How to train a dog-owner
by schak
Summary: This is an answer to the dog/cat/pet-challenge. Kyoko and Ren have to take care of a little puppy. Let's see how they are going to manage this.
1. Prolog

It wasn't Ren's fault. Not really, at least. Even if he hadn't been distracted by a blushing Kyoko on his back seat, there wouldn't have been much he could have done.

It was late, nearly 11 o'clock in the night, too late for Kyoko to go home on her own. They were on their way to drop off Yashiro first, if he had a choice he would always drop off Yashiro first. Alone-time with Kyoko was definitely preferable to alone-time with his migraine-causing, matchmaking manager. She had smiled that smile that always leaves him weak in the knees, when she and Yashiro shouted at him to watch out.

He only saw how something small ran out of a dark side street out of the corner of his eyes. He stepped on the brake as hard as he could and tried to steer the car in the opposite direction. But he heard and felt how something hit the car on the far right side, or better how the car hit something. Yashiro and Kyoko were already out of the car to take care of whatever or whoever he ran over. Oh my God, he killed somebody. What he had seen was small, a child?! He killed a child! What was a child doing outside so late in the night? He couldn't move. Gripping the steering wheel, his knuckles turn white. Everything starts to fade and the world slows down, as if he tries to swim in honey or quicksand. He hears Kyoko and Yashiro talking, but he can't understand what they are saying. It sounds as if he hears them through a thick layer of cotton from far away.

"Oh no! He is hurt! We need to get him to a doctor!"

"Kyoko watch out. Don't touch him. He could bite you."

"But we need to do something."

"It's ok. Let me do this. I take care of him. You look after Ren, ok?"

"Ok."

He doesn't notice when his door is opened or that the small actress stands next to him.

"Tsuruga-san? Are you ok? Are... are you hurt? Ren?"

He feels how her petit hand softly touch his cheek and neck. And he heard her calling him. He tries to reach the voice.

"Kyoko." When he turns his head, his eyes meet her worried ones.

"Are you hurt, Ren? Do you need an ambulance?" It calms him down to hear her saying his name. He shakes his head.

"Are you ok?" He still stares at her with wide eyes, but nods nevertheless. She worries her lips, as if she has to make an important decision.

"Are you sure? Can you drive? We need to get him to the vet. He is bleeding." Tears form in her big golden eyes.

"Vet?" It confuses him. You only bleed as long as you are alive. The kid isn't dead? But a vet? Why not a doctor or hospital?

"Yes, a veterinary. For the little dog. Are you sure you are ok? Did you hit your head? Maybe a confusion..." She takes his face in both of her hands and looks at him as if she is searching for something. His mind starts to clear up. He didn't hit a child. It was a dog and he is injured. And Kyoko worries about him. Softly he shakes his head.

"No, I'm fine. I was just a bit shocked. Don't worry. He needs to go to the vet? Let's go." His words had the desired effect and Kyoko seems smoothed. She nods and runs back to the other side of his car. He takes one more calming breath.

"Kyoko-chan, can you take him? I have to look up where we can take him and how to get there."

A moment later Yashiro got into his back seat and typed something into his smartphone. Kyoko sat herself in the passenger seat and held something grey in her arms, that whined pitifully. A second look told him that the grey was actual from Yashiros jacket, that was wrapped around it.

"Ok, we can go to the animal clinic, at this time of the night, we should be there in 20 minutes." Yashiro said from the back and gave his phone to the front. The GPS navigation was already running and Ren started the car.

X

15 minutes later they arrived at the clinic. He may have driven a little faster than allowed. But who cares. If this finds its way into the public, the story, that he has to get a little dog to the doctor, would probably only increase his popularity.

Kyoko had tried to smoother the small creature in her lap, that whined in pain. They got out of the car and rushed into the clinic, where they were greeted at the reception. After the nurse there took one look at the dog, they were led into a treatment room with the promise, that a doctor would be with them as soon as possible.

In less than five minutes a man between 50 and 60, with glasses entered the room and eminently started to examine the dog.

"Hello, I'm doctor Wakumo. It's this your dog?"

"No. He ran in front of my car and I couldn't break anymore."

"Hmm." He got a little electronic device and seemed to scan the dogs side. He didn't look pleased.

"No chip. Ssh little one."

The doctor took a step back and looked at them for the first time.

"I'll be honest with you. The injuries are dangerous and need to be operated. This is going to be expensive and the clinic can't take the costs for it. I can put the little one to sleep for free."

"Money is no problem. I'll pay for everything. Do whatever is necessary, please doctor." Even without a teary Kyoko, next to him, his answer wouldn't have changed. The fact that she looked at him so grateful and adoring was just a bonus.

"The surgery will be really expensive and I can't promise that it will be successful." He looked at the young people sceptical. He had seen the way the young man looked at the girl next to him and was afraid, that he only talks big to impress her.

"Doesn't matter. I will pay either way." Seeing the sceptic on the doctors face, Ren added impatient, "Ok, you see. My name is Tsuruga Ren and this my manager Yashiro Yukihito, should I walk out of here without paying, you can sell the story to the media and they would pay you more than enough to cover everything."

He couldn't associate anything with either of the names, but he thought he could remember his youngest daughter said that one name in a kind of dreamy voice. He decided to take the risk and nodded. He went to the door and called out:

"Yuri-san, please prepare OP 2. And get me fast narcotics for a 7kg puppy." The nurse from the reception came in a short moment later and have the doctor an amplule.

"Please show them to the waiting area."

**X**

Once they were seated Kyoko started to nervously fumble with Yashiros suit jacket, that she still held tight. They were the only once in the waiting area. After some time she finally realized what had been the blanket for the small dog, puppy the doctor had said.

"Oh no! Your nice suit. It's ruined! I'm so sorry!" She was about to get up to fall on her knees to beg for forgiveness, but Yashiro intervened early and pushed her back in her seat.

"It's not your foul. I decided to use my jacket. It was my decision, ok? And it wasn't a very nice suit. It was a off-the-peg suit, I have a dozen of them."

Ren knew that the last part was a lie. It was one of Yukihitos favourite specially tailored suits, that had cost him nearly a 1000 dollar. But he was definitely not going to tell Kyoko that piece of information. 'I have to remember to pay him back.'

Kyoko seemed to calm down for the moment. After ten more minutes he noticed that she starts to shake and he was afraid that the stress had caught up to her and that she would go into shock. But then he heard her soft sniffs and realized that she was about to cry for the little dog she hasn't known for more than half an hour.

"Hey Mogami-san." He gently lifted her chin. "You're ok?" /_Stupid question. She is crying, idiot._/

"Sorry I don't want to disturb you." She said with a hiccup and tried to silence her tears.

"Hey, this ok to cry. You are not disturbing anyone." He put the arm around her shoulder and pulled her to his chest. The girl grabbed his shirt cried even harder.

"I know it's stupid to cry. My crying isn't going to change anything. But I'm so afraid."

"It's alright. Ssh, ssh. It's going to be alright again." He felt helpless, when he rubbed her back. He held the girl of his dreams in his arms, as she cried and was unable to do a thing.

"Do you think Prince is going to survive?" The innocent question broke his heart. He loves her for her caring, giving, loving nature. When she loves something she loves it with all her heart. And that the little creature in the next room had managed to steal her heart completely and truly was quite obvious. To make it even harder the fact, that she already gave the dog a name, means that she would be hurt even more should be not survive.

"I hope so, Kyoko, I hope so." He pulled her closer and whispered into her hair.

It didn't take long until she fell asleep against him. When she fell silent and her breathing slowed down, he pulled her on this lap to embrace her fully and to place a kiss on her forehead. He looked around. Yashiro sat a few seats away from them and had grabbed one of the magazines to give them a bit privacy. He noticed how the day took its toll on him too. He tightened his embrace and started to drift off.

A.N.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Skip Beat! and I don't earn money with this.

This is going to be a short story to the dog/cat/pet-challenge in memory of my late dog. This chapter was a bit sad, but I promise the next one is going to be more light hearted and with extra fluff. It's going to be a short story, maybe two or three chapters.

What do you think? I hope I managed to keep them in character and I know, Yashiro seems very serious here, but I think, that he is, when it matters.

Please leave a review, to help me to improve.


	2. Chapter 1

"Is that really him? It is, isn't it?"

"No, why should he be here?"

"But he looks like him."

"Well sure they look a lot alike, but are you sure?"

"I will look him up...See the body and face!"

"Well you can't see all of his face now, can you?"

"No but still..."

"Oh my God! It's him!"

"And what enabled you to make this conclusion now?"

"Here a picture of him..." "We already realized, that you can't see his face or most of his body." "Let me finish! A picture of him, with his manager! See the other guy there and here. How likely is it that his lookalike runs around with a lookalike of his manager, ha!"

"Let me see!"

"Me too."

"That's really Ren Tsuruga! How to I look? Do you have mascara?"

"Ok girls, I don't want to spoil your fun, but who is the girl on his lap? He doesn't seem so available with her here?"

"Maybe she is just a girl, who recognized him and sat herself on his lap, when he was sleeping..."

"She is sexual harassing him!"

"O...Kay, you think, that's the most likely explanation, for this scene right now? Really?"

"He is single and there is no special girl in his life. He always says that!"

"Because he would definitely never lie, just to protect his privacy or girlfriend, unbelievable..."

"But..."

"BUT, what is going on here? Don't you have anything to do, that you have time to gossip?"

"Yuri-sama! We were just talking about the people in the waiting area and who they are and..."

"I can tell you exactly who they are! They are people waiting to hear if their dog survived the surgery. Do you understand that? Good, then stop standing around and back to work!"

...

...

"And I tell you, it is him. Aya-chan will be so pissed, that she switched out today."

"She deserves that!"

"But she is ill."

"Oh, please. Stop being so naïve. She will be ill tomorrow morning, with a hangover. Nothing else."

"We should do some photos, or nobody is going to believe us."

"Good idea!"

...

...

"STUDENTS!"

X

Ren felt how somebody shake his shoulder and looked into Yashiros face.

"Hey, you guys have to wake up. The doctor is back."

"Hmm?" He took some seconds to get rid of his sleepiness."Oh! What did he said?"

"Don't you want to wake up Kyoko-chan first?" Yashiros eyes twinkled at him in amusement. Only now did he registered the warm weight on his lap. A look down proofed, it was Kyoko who slept peacefully against his chest.

"Hey, Kyoko." He just loves to call her like this, so he did it, when ever he thinks he can get away with it. "Come on, you have to get up."

He ran his fingers through her hair and tickled her neck softly. Her eyes slowly opened.

"Hmm? Ren-kun?" If he thought, he was happy, with her sleeping on his lap, it was nothing compared to the explosion of joy he felt from hearing her say his name so intimately in her sweet voice, still rough from sleep. It started a firework of images in his mind, fantasies about a shared future. A future where she greets him in this voice every morning, when she wakes up in his arms, in his bed and he is going to answer her with a kiss, that most of the times will lead to something more. Stop judging him, those are his fantasies, he can image what ever he wants.

"Yes, Kyoko-chan." A truly brilliant and gentle smile boomed on his face and with a voice loving enough to make every girl weak in the knees. On Kyoko it had the effect, that a dozen of her demons were fried on the spot and she was to frozen from the close proximity to do anything. It took her nearly half a minute to started her brain again and to review the short conversation.

"Oh no! Tsugura-san, I am so sorry! To call you do informal! I promise it will never..." Her plan to fall on her knees was hindered by a pair of arms, that tightened around her and the promise to never ever call him Ren again was stopped by a big hand against her mouth. She was reduced to star at him with big, shocked eyes.

"Now, we don't have time for that. Don't you want to know how our little patient is doing?" The last thing he wanted from her was any kind of promise not to come closer to him. That would totally spoil his fantastic mood.

"Prince!" She pushed his arms unceremoniously away and ran to the doctor, who was already speaking with Yashiro. Ren sighed deeply and followed her. He was sure the doctor didn't have bad news or Yashiro would have warned him before he woke Kyoko.

/_She didn't have to jump out of my arms... That's cruel to any man's ego._/

"...went fine. But you will need to give this drugs for the next three weeks. You can pick them up together with your dog in the evening, around six o'clock."

Her face fell when she heard that.

"Umm... I don't have the space to keep him...", she replied quietly and she looked ready to cry again.

"Oh, that is a problem. I would say, Ren-kun has the space, but not the time to take care for him alone...Hmm what could we do... Oh! Why don't you work together? The puppy stays with him and you, Kyoko-chan, help him with taking care it and all this." This display of overacting in its complete artificial maximum justified why Yashiro will always stands on the managing side of showbiz and never on the acting side. Kyoko didn't seem to notice or care, her eyes lighted up at the idea, but then her eyes fell again.

"I couldn't possibly impose on Tsugura-san like this..."

"If somebody is responsible for him, that would be me. I hit him with my car. So it would be me, who impose on you. Not the other way round."

"No, no it would be right from me to let you wast your little free time because of this. You're already paying for everything. I will find a way, somehow..." Her voice got lower the longer she rambled on. She fell dead silent, when she looked up into his lying gentleman smile.

"Oh so you think, I'm swallow enough to think, lets throw money at it and wash my hands clean from the responsibility, yes?"

"No! Of cause not! I would never think that!"

"You act like it." The smile got brighter.

"NO! It's just, I don't want to force you to spent so much time on something I could take care of."

"You said it yourself. You don't have the space. So you can't take care of it." And brighter.

"But..."

"To me it sounds, as if you prefer everything over doing this together with me. It's spending time with me really that repulsing to you?" Even if his smile stayed intact, his voice held a tiny hint of uncertainty. The small actress had shied away from him, when faced with the gentleman smile of doom, but looked up with a start as she heard something strange in his voice.

"No! Really not... But wouldn't it be bad for your reputation, if you spent so much time with a lowly newbie?" Seeing honest worry in her eyes and the hint of pink on her face, Ren couldn't repress a small laughter.

"Not as bad as not taking care of the little dog I hit with my car. And it would make me very happy, if you would help me with this little guy. Please." He smile one of his true smiles that were reserved for her. She didn't expect to see his lying smile transform into his holy smile in no time. So she did the only thing she was able to in her stunned form, she nodded softly and looked down to her shoes, while she felt a blush on her cheeks.

"That's good. Thank you, Mogami-san."

"So you guys are sure about it? The drugs need to be given every two hours the first two to three weeks. And you have to stop by at least six times in the next two and a half month." The doctor didn't look completely convinced, but he knew that even a not-perfect home was better than no home for his little patient. He really hope that this didn't end in a lovers-spat, with the dog as a victim in between.

"That wouldn't be a problem, you said we can pick him up in the evening. Can you give us a list of things we need to take care of him?" Ren noticed, they probably didn't make the best impression on the doctor.

"Yes please wait some more minutes and the nurse will get a list for you." The doctor shook his head and went to the reception to talk to Yuri-san.

"Hmm with this much care the little guy needs even in the night, it will be difficult for Ren with his workload. It would be best if you could take turns. But than Kyoko-chan has to sleep over. You do have a guest room right?" First, Yashiros acting skills didn't improve to the last time he opened his mouth and second, the way he winked at Ren was so bloody obvious, that the tall actor really thought for a moment, how well he would have to act, to make the judge believe, that he hit his manager in self-defence. He didn't do it for the sole reason, that it would probably scar Kyoko away from him.

"Oh, I couldn't possible..." Ren didn't want to hear what ever she had to say now. It wasn't ok how that fangirl idiot, had raised the topic up, but he wouldn't let Kyoko bail out on him.

"You wouldn't be a burden at all. I am very happy, you're willing to help me. And I wouldn't use the room otherwise. Oh and don't worry, you don't have to move in for good"_/if you don't want to/_"just as long as Prince needs this intensive care, ok."

To Kyoko this didn't sound like a question, more like an already make decision and she was just informed about it.

"O...kay. I think..."

"Very good. How is my schedule for today?" Sometimes it works best to change the subject or Kyoko tries to argue quite long about things she isn't completely convinced about.

"You start at 9 and end at 18:30 if we reschedule the costume fitting. That would be a problem, we will just do it next week. If you want to buy everything first, you have a long lunch break from 11:30 to 14 o'clock. Kyoko do you think you have time then? You could get the dog stuff and make sure he actual eat something." It was remarkable to see how fast this guy could switch from serious manager mode to teenage matchmaker. Not that he has a problem with a lunch date, but it feels kind of pathetic that most of the outings and meetings with his secret love was catalyst by his manager. It make it seem as if he is unable to get somewhere with her himself.

"Today I have only school and LoveMe work. It should be fine, if I leave after English at 12 o'clock. Do your think that will be enough time?"

"Don't worry, it will be fine. I'll pick you up at your school."

The conservation was cut short by the reappearing doctor.

"The list is at the reception together with your bill. At what time will you pick up your dog in the evening?"

"Around 19 o'clock thank you very much."

"It's no problem. Take good care and see you in the evening."

After paying the bill Ren could understand exactly why the doctor repeated the fact that it would be an expensive surgery. It didn't matter to him, but for that money you could buy a passable used car that still has some good years in front of it. He is definitely not going to show this bill to Kyoko. He didn't pay attention to the list, for now. His only wish was to get home and catch some more hours of sleep. It took more than half an hour before his wish came reality after he dropped off the other two. It was nearly four in the morning when he hit his bed.

**X**

He was early to pick her up. Part of him wanted to go inside and pick her up in front of her classroom, but he knew, this would only provocat rumours about them. Not that he had a problem with being linked to Kyoko in this way. But he didn't want to hear her resolute denies and how she explains the impossibility of a relationship between them. So he waited in the car, even if he started to feel impatient. He had redone his cologne and checked his hair, four times by now.

_/I'm acting like a teenager waiting for his first date. I'm an idiot./_ He let his head fall on his steering wheel and took some calming breaths. He was half way in his calming down excise, when he heard a soft knock from the passenger side. While unlocking the car he checked the time and noticed, it was five to twelve.

"You're early, Tsugura-san." Her face was flushed from running down the stairs and her hair was a bit messed up, add to that the fact, that her school uniform skirt hiked up a bit as she sat down and you have the sight, Japan's most desirable bachelor dubbed as one of the most adorable things he ever saw. On his top ten list nine out of ten places are taken by golden-eyed girl next to him. The other one is the panda baby he had worked with once. That thing was diabetes-causing sweet.

"You too, Mogami-san." A desperate hopeful part of him wished it was because she was as eager to meet him as he was to meet her.

"I couldn't let you get moped by my schoolmates, now." She answered deadpan and without a hint of an excuse. He should really knew better, that letting his hopes up.

They first went to eat something and to take a closer look at their list. It was shorter than they expected.

"We need puppy food for middle to tall dogs, a food and water bowl, a leash, a collar and harness. As a dog bed a blanket in a secured place is enough. But we could get a dog transport box, if we want. What do you think Tsugura-san?" Well, he thought, he loves how she was referencing them as 'We'. But that probably wasn't, what he should say now.

"How about, we go to the store and look around for what we want for our little Prince." Even when he had sent Yashiro away with an evil glare, for squeaking about getting their baby stuff, he could see this piece of fantasy play out nicely in his head. Their baby would have his nose and face and her beautiful eyes and black hair, because genetic dominance and stuff.

"Ok, if you are sure." The way she bite her lips, told him, she would prefer a really made battle plan, but he didn't want to rush through it, probably even separated. He wanted to spend time with her. Her uneasiness with the not-plan was soon forgotten, when she fixed him with a stern glare.

"You are going to eat that side salad, don't you?" This wasn't a question and no-one would ever mistake it for one, when listening to get treading voice. That's why he didn't answer verbally and just ate the green stuff in question, with a small grin. This shopping tour had definitely a bit of a family feeling.

"You did realized, our disguise today is a couple, who are getting their first puppy together?" He couldn't restrain him from teasing her a little bit. The impressive portrayal of Munch's 'Scream' implied, this hadn't even been an abstract option in her mind.

**X**

"Look at this leash! It has little crowns on it." Kyoko squeaked in delight.

"And it's pink."

"It's rosé."

He crossed his arms and lifted his eyebrow doubtful. He wouldn't be catch dead with that thing in his hand. Finally she pouted and put the leash down.

"You're no fun, sometimes."

"And you're unreasonable." He teased her and tousled her hair. She blushed deeply, but beamed up to him. That she agreed to the couple cover so quickly had surprised him. He only needed to tell her, that they were to old to make siblings believable (if you don't count abnormal pairs like the Heels) and with friends in the end only one of the would get the dog and would had more saying about everything (he just ignored her point that he should have more saying, since he is paying). His last stock of genius in this was when he was able to convince her, they should put on characters not far from themself, to make sure they get stuff they like.

They disguise was simple. She changed out of her school uniform and into tight-fitting jeans, a cute top and to finish the look and to draw off attention from her person some big and colourful earrings. He wore a nice pair of jeans, a simple t-shirt and some huge glasses. Additional he wore a short-haired black wig and a fake birthmark near his left ear. You have to give people something to look at to make sure, they don't see you.

"Ok, Mr I-know-everything-better, what colour do you want?" She challenged him with a fiery glare and turned back to the leashes on display. He took it as an invention to step behind her and snake an arm around her waist and to rest his chin on her head. At first she became stiff, but after a second or two she relaxed against him.

"Hmm, I like the brown leather ones. They are classic and simple." He peeked down on her and saw that her ears had taken on a cute shade of pink.

"Oh. But wouldn't they be a bit boring?"

"Hey!" He intoned with fake hurt. "How about we compromise? What about the leather ones with the engravings on it?" He pointed at some leashes with little comic bones and puppy heads on it. After a short examination she agreed.

"They're cute. But they look expensive."

Before she could check the price tag, one of his large hands was over her eyes.

"We agreed, that you are not allowed to look at the prices today."

"You claimed that and didn't give me a chance to argue!"

"My point still stands." He replied stubborn.

He put the leash with the matching collar and harness in the shopping cart and pulled Kyoko along with him.

"Lets look at the dog beds." He said with a boyish grin. She couldn't help herself answer him with a smile of her own.

After some more arguing and compromising they got everything on the list and some more.

_"Again with the crowns?" "But they are so beautiful and they are only on the bowls and they are not pink." "So you agree that the leash was pink." "Please?" *sign* "Ok." "Thank you."_

_"What is that?" "Toys. We agreed to get some." "Yeah, but why to many? Don't look at me like that." "We don't know what toys he is going to like." "I don't know what to say. And you call me unreasonable? Put half of them away."_

_"It wouldn't even fit into your car!" "Doesn't matter." "Doesn't matter? What do you think **transport box** exactly stands for?" "The shop assistant said, it could help to get him clean more quickly. The assistant is very helpful." "Of course she is. You are buying half the store."_

_"Well, at least we agree, that getting books about puppy training is a good idea."_

_"Take your hand away. I can't see anything." "That's the idea. Don't say the price out loud. Just take it from this card."_

**X**

Half an hour ago he had picked up Kyoko and her stuff to go to the clinic and take Prince home with them. She sat next to him in the waiting area and played anxiously with her hands and he can't deny, he was nervous too.

"Mogami." One of the nurses called.

They gave the clinic her name, because it was least recognizable. They got up and hurried to the nurse.

"Please come with me. The doctor will be here in a few minutes."

Kyoko knew, the doctor in the morning said that everything is alright, but she couldn't shake off the tense feeling. She felt like it were hours until the doctor got into the room with a small transport box in his hand. Curious she tried to peek inside.

"Ah here we are. We didn't have any problems and no complications aroused. So I have no problem with you taking our little patient with you."

He took a small sleeping dog out of the box. It has a big cone around its neck and lots of bandage around its body. What you could see of the body was shaved, apart of the head and tail. The fur was black, with a white tail tip and a small blaze. The eyebrows were yellowish-brown.

"I think, we have a mix with a Border Collie or an Australian Shepard here. So you got an active little fellow at your hands. But the next couple of days she shouldn't move too much, but that would be a big problem, with the pain medication you will have a sleepy dog most likely."

"But Prince will be alright, yes?"

"Yes. And Prince, hmm? You didn't realize, that this is a girl." The doctor smiled a little bit. "Don't worry it is normal, that people assume dogs to be male and cats to be female, when they don't know for sure."

Kyokos mouth opened to a silent O. She hadn't expect that.

It was probably a combination of her funny expression, their playful banners in the store, his relive, that the dog was fine and his excitement about her moving in with him, that lead to his next sentence. He lent forward to whisper into her ear.

"What lucky man, I am. To have two princesses move in with me today."

"PLAYBOY!"

With the way the nearly jumped out off her skin and pointed her finger accusingly at him, when she cried that, he couldn't help himself but laugh out loud.

* * *

><p>A.N.<p>

Disclaimer: Skip Beat! and its characters don't belong to me and I don't earn any money with his.

I promised, this chapter would be with extra fluff and here you go. Again I'm a bit worried if I managed to keep them in character. But I think, Ren is a bit planless when it comes to shopping and that he sometimes is an overgrown kid.

And forgive me, that I turned Prince into a Princess.

I really need to learn how to write shorter chapters or this story will be longer than I intended, and then I can't just put this online without having it betaed. I tell myself, with short stories it's not that important. I know not the best way to do this.

Please leave a review and help me to improve.


	3. Chapter 2

The drive to their home for the next couple of weeks ( a mix of nervous excitement and stupid joy would wash over him whenever he thought about that) was mostly alternated between Kyoko mumbling about his playboy attics and protecting Princess's pure heart from them, short awkward silences and discussions about what the doctor told them and what they already read about puppy training. It was obvious, that Kyoko was nervous about going home with him.

"Why so worried? It's not the first time you've slept at my place so what's the problem?" Of course he knew the difference between those times and now. Then she had just spent a night and was gone without a trace in the morning, now she would live here, sleep here, eat here, study here, fall down on his sofa after a long day and wait for him to come home. God, he had that giddy feeling all over his body again.

"Those times were completely different!"

"Ssh, not so loud. You will wake up Princess."Considering the amount of drugs in her system, it was unlikely she would even wake up for the apocalypse. But it would help get Kyoko to be quiet and stop her from rambling on. As he predicted she checked the puppy and apologized quietly to it. By then they had arrived at his home and he parked his car.

"Let's go. You take Princess and I'll take the rest of the stuff (meaning her stuff) up." Without waiting for an answer he got out of the car to open the door for her.

"Mademoiselle et votre petite Amie will you allow me to show you your new chambers?" Playfully he bowed in front of her and offered his hand to her. She blushed prettily and giggled a bit.

"I would be honored, kind Sir." It was simply impossible not to play along with him, even without Kyokos fairy tale obsession. She took his hand and stepped out of the car.

"Let me carry your luggage." With that he went to the back of his car and took her bag.

"Would you please follow me?" She nodded and followed him with the grace and elegance of a lady to the lift.

"I didn't know you could speak French."

"Qui, qui, Mademoiselle. Cette langue est cella de l'amour. Et est très utile dans le travail de modèle."

She tilted her head to one side and looked confused up to him.

"What did you just say?"

"Oh, just that it's practical to speak French when you are a model."

"Hmm, so I wouldn't need it."

"Don't say that. Girls like your Natsu are very fashionable and could attract the interest of a designer. You have a photogenic face and the right body for it."

"That's the magic of make-up and Princess Rosa. That's not me."

He sighed at how easily she brushed aside his compliment. This girl was a really strange one. She seemed to register his disappointment and concluded that it was because she ignored a possible way to attract attention and come further in this business.

"It's unlikely somebody would want me to model for them but just in case would you be willing to teach me some French?" Her eager voice and shining eyes sent his imagination into overdrive.

"I would love to teach you a thing or two in French."

The way she froze up and stared at him with big eyes, could probably be taken as a sign that his hidden desires weren't as hidden as he intended. Most likely the only reason why she didn't run away from him right now was that they were in a lift together. Time for damage control.

"Pffffff, your face. Un petit lapin effrayé. A small frightened rabbit. Try to say it."

"You, you BULLY!" In one second she was crying bloody murder at him and the next she was cowering in a corner and mumbling inaudibly to herself and Princess. He thought, he caught something about 'no shame', 'meany', maybe 'emperor' and 'a knight', he wasn't sure? What was going on in that funny mind of her's?

"Come on, we are here." Ren smiled placatory at her.

_/I shouldn't scar her away before she even sets foot into my home./_

He waited for her to follow him again and lead them to his front door, where he signaled her to step in.

She didn't. She watched the door warily, as if it could attack her at any second. She swallowed uneasily.

"You know, this isn't your way to the guillotine, just my front door."

"Maybe it would be easier to walk into the lions den." He just barely heard her and wanted to make a comment about it, but then he remembered the conversation in the lift.

_/Maybe she has a point there. Turn it down./_

He stayed quiet and waited for her to accept her fate, ehm, to calm down and enter in her own time. He then followed her in and put her bag in the guest room.

"You already know this apartment mostly, but let me give you a small tour. Lets start in the living room."

"Ok." It should be forbidden to shine so cheerful and bright, or at least it should be as long as he wasn't allowed to cuddle and kiss her, when she does it. Preventing himself from doing anything not-ok, he hurried to the living room. Small changes had already taken place. In one corner stood the transport box and next to the couch was the dog bed. Both were filled with soft blankets and pillows, and toys, lots of toys.

"I thought, Princess should sleep here. What do you think?"

"This is your home. You can decide."

"And it's our dog, isn't it? I want to make decisions together with you, ok?" She blushed at the smile he shone upon her and nodded.

"So what do you think?"

"I think, it's lovely and she is going to love it. But we should let her sleep and continue this on our own." With those words she lowered the still knocked out puppy into her dog bed.

"Sounds like a solid plan. Come on. Next room is the kitchen. You probably know more about this room, than me. Here are Princess' food and water bowl and the dog food is in the cupboard here." He opened the cupboard to let her see, after a short inspection, she turned her glace suspiciously to his refrigerator.

"So we have dog food. Do we have human food in here too, or is your refrigerator as deserted as ever?"

"It's not that bad." He mumbled quietly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing. Ehm, I may not have found the time just yet to go to the store. How about we do that after the tour?" When Ren saw her nodding, he got the distant feeling that the following weeks would include an unusually high amount of meals. But that's ok. He liked her cooking, a lot. They went to the corridor.

"On the left is my room, if you need anything you can always come to me. Next to it is the bathroom, we have to share it, I fear." He watched her reaction out of the corner of his eyes. He took her blush as a good sign.

"That's not a problem. We manage that somehow as the Heels, right?"

"Oh, does that mean I have to take extra care to lock the door?"

Her blush got several shades darker and she mumbled darkly. With a laugh he pulled her along to the next room and opened the door wide.

"Here is your room. Please make yourself home and if you need help, please ask."

He had put on some nice silk sheets and he had got some flowers for the nightstand. He wanted to make sure, she enjoys her stay at his home and this time he had time to prepare. She stepped into the room in wonder, she never really had time to look at the room. It was big, but not as big as the master bedroom, with a big panorama window that gave a fantastic view over the city. The room was filled with the sweet scent of the flowers.

"I hope you like it."

"It's beautiful. Are you sure you want me to stay here? It's so nice."

_/No, my bedroom would be much more preferable but I will take what I can get. Probably not what I should say./_

"If you don't want to share my room, then I want you to stay here. I can take your bag over right now."

_/What the hell is wrong with you, brain? Didn't we just agree not to say that?/_

"NO! This room it great. I want to stay here!" With a speed, that most likely made sure her watch went a second slow, she grabbed her bag and jumped on the bed. She held her bag like a shield between her and him. He forced himself to giggle a bit.

"Oh don't be like this. I was joking." _/Not./_ "We are not finished here."

She didn't seem completely convinced, but lowered her bag-shield.

"You shouldn't make jokes like this. People could misunderstand you."

"Last room. Down the hall is the gym. You can use anything in here. But before you use anything please tell me, so I can show you how you're supposed to use it. Without instructions some of the machines could be dangerous."

"Wow, you have lots of different stuff here. I can't use them, I don't want to break anything." He had all kinds of training equipment in this room. As much as it pains him, a body like his didn't maintain itself.

"If any of this could be broken be a little imp of a girl like you, then they're not worth the money I paid for them." He laughed at the dark glare she sent his way.

"Just because I'm not an overgrown giant, doesn't mean I'm short. I have to inform you, I'm perfectly normal, thank you very much. It's you who is abnormally tall."

"If you say so, imp."

She didn't bless him with a further answer and left the room dramatically, after she was halfway down the hall she turned around.

"You coming? We still have to go to the store, unless you fancy dog food as dinner."

He could somehow suppress his laugh, but he couldn't suppress the wide grin, which was blooming on his face.

"Your wish is my command."

**X**

Two months later

Ren slowly awoke from a very pleasant dream, starring Kyoko and him and their shared future. It involved their wedding and Kyoko had looked so indescribably beautiful in her white dress and the sweet kiss at the end. A kiss that transcribed to reality, as he felt the small warm body next to him move and he was completely awoken by a loving kiss.

To understand how it came to this adorable scene, we have to recap the last two months. And we will do this in small snapshots. That may or may not be made into oneshots one day, if the lazy author feels like it. But everybody else is invited to do it, if you feel like it.

**X**

"What would I need a key for?" She looked truly stunned at the small electronic device, after Ren explain to her, that it was the key to his apartment.

"You live here now. And we don't always have the same times so you need a key." He answered in a matter of fact way.

"But but..." She couldn't really argue that. Kyoko still looked hesitantly at the key.

"You know it's not poisoned or something."

"I know that!" She grabbed it quickly in her fury of being made fun off, but then looked down on it, as if it had placed the weight of the world on her.

"I will give it back to you, as soon as I move out of here again."

"We will cross, that bridge when time comes." He looked kind of sad when he said this, Kyoko thought, as she put the key away.

**X**

"Mogami-san, it's really unreasonable. How do you plan to transport Princess on your bike?" "I have a big basket on it. She will fit in perfectly." "But what if you fall? She could get hurt." "I know how to ride my bike! Thank you very much!"

This argument was going on for the last ten minutes and was merrily running circles around them. Ok, time for de-escalation.

"Please, I would feel better about it if I drive you, just the first week until we can speak with the vet again, ok? If he says its fine, then I'm not going to say anything more about it."

"But how will I get my bike back from LME?" Kyoko had to go to school tomorrow, and because she can't take the dog with her they had planned for Ren and Yashiro to take care of Princess in the morning and in the afternoon Kyoko would pick her up and look after her while she was doing her LoveMe work in LME, probably roping in her two friends to help her. The plan sounded fine until they discovered some logistical problems. And here we are.

"We'll just put it in the car."

"Yes, because that's exactly what your car is built for, transporting bulky objects."

"I'll drive you to school and pick you up, too. You wouldn't need the bike at all. Fine?"

"Fine!"

"Fine!" Yeah, they were fantastic at fighting with each other like an old couple.

**X**

"Tsuruga-san, please wake up." Kyoko carefully shook him awake.

"Hmm, what's going on?" His alarm clock told him that it was 3 o'clock in the morning.

"Princess is sick. She threw up and I think she has a fever." Her big fearful eyes pleaded for him to do something.

"Ok, ok I'm up. I'll just put something on. You get Princess and We'll go to the vet."

**X**

"Hey, you heard them. She gets an infusion and will be fine again in the morning. No reason to look so depressed."

"I know, I'm just worried."

It was half past four by then. It was very unlikely that they would get any additional sleep tonight.

"How about, we get ourselves a nice cup of coffee and calm down?"

"Hai." A small smile was back on her face and that was good. He likes it best when she was smiling.

**X**

"Ahrrr, Tsugura-san!"

"Ehm, the mirror is not only a mirror, but a second door which leads into the master bedroom. You have to lock it separately." In reconsideration, he maybe should have told her this before he walked in on her half asleep, with her naked. She threw the first object on hand at him, which happens to be her towel. This left her with significantly less to cover herself with. He really should stop staring at her like that, like really stop.

"Get out!"

"Ah, ehm. Yes." He left though the same door he came in and leaned against it from the other side. He definitely needed a shower; he just hadn't decided yet if it was going to be a icing cold one or a steaming hot one.

**X**

"Ah, I see, our little girl is doing fantastic. The wounds are all healing well. And I think we can soon start to reduce the painkillers. She will be livelier then. But you still need to give her the antibiotics."

"That's a big relief." They were back in the clinic for the follow up. Princess had been very drowsy the last week and slept most the time.

"Would it be ok if I take the bike with her?" Yes, that argument wasn't forgotten yet. It still ran close under the surface this past week.

"Oh, she maybe more lively, but not that active and she is still far too young to run next to a bike. She shouldn't do that before she is at least a year old."

"Oh no no. I didn't mean letting her run next to me, I mean in a basket."

"Oh! Sorry I misunderstood you. No, that's no problem, if you drive carefully. But you have to train her and in the beginning secure her to make sure she can't jump out."

"See, no problem at all."

"Yes and he said something about driving carefully. That very likely excludes going down stairs full speed."

"I wouldn't do that, when I have Princess with me."

"You shouldn't do it at all."

**X**

It was an endless source of amusement for everybody to watch the little puppy fight with it's environment and the cone around its neck. She just didn't seem to fit where she was convinced she should fit. After she bummed against stuff, she looked at them with big pitiful eyes.

"You have to watch out better. By now you should know you don't fit everywhere." Ren scolded her with a soft voice, as he freed her from her self-made prison between the sofa and the couch table. He gave her a small tread and put her down again.

**X**

"I don't have time right now, Sawara-san. I'll come to your office in 15 minutes, 20 at most." Kyoko hurried past her department head. She bee lined around the people in the lobby until she was finally outside. She put the puppy down on the small green area.

"Now we are outside. Here you can pee, ok?"

Princess herself still looked tired, as she sat in the grass. She had just woken up when Kyoko grabbed her to get her outside.

"Come on. The book says puppies need to pee once they wake up and that you have to get them somewhere where they're allowed to, fast."

Princess took some more moments until she got on her feet and looked around the small grass patch. Finally she decided to give in to nature's call.

"That's fine. Oh, you're a good girl. Yes a good girl." Kyoko praised her in a cheerful high voice, another piece of advice out of the book, as she petted her dog's head.

**X**

It was late, when he finally arrived home. His co-star had a really bad day and had got them lots of NGs. In the end everybody was tired and grumpy and it was late enough that he wouldn't even see Kyoko anymore. He hadn't seen her all day. In the morning she had to leave very early and he just found a small breakfast on the table and later that day Yashiro had done the dog switch because he had been on stage at that time. Yes, he was most definitely grumpy too. But his image didn't allow him to be grumpy and annoyed, and that made him even grumpier.

His neck and shoulders hurt from one of the scenes he had to repeat. He rolled his shoulders, as he searched for his keys which promptly fell down. Yeah, his day was getting better and better. He should look after Princess before he went to bed.

He stepped into the living room and instantly a smile bloomed on his face. On the sofa was Kyoko with Princess next to her. Both were deeply asleep. Princess seemed to be hunting something in her dream, while Kyoko had her arm around the small dog.

Ren sat down in front of them and just watched them for a minute or two.

"Hey Kyoko, why are you sleeping here and not in your bed?", he asked her, as he woke her up and softly stroked some strands out of her face.

"Hmm?" She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Tsuruga-san? You are home. Princess and I waited for you but we must have fallen asleep, sorry." She smiled apologizing to him.

Her words led an unbelievable warmth spread though him. She waited for him to come home. He was convinced; nothing could stop him from smiling like an idiot right now. A fine blush crept up her cheeks.

"Umm, there is dinner in the oven, to keep it warm. I know you forget to eat when you have a lot to do. And when I was finished cooking I wasn't very hungry yet and I thought you should be home soon, so I waited up for you." She rumbled on and nervously started to play with her hands.

"Then we should eat."

Oh, he could get used to this. Today was a fantastic day, a shame it was nearly over.

**X**

"She hates me!" Big tears were running down Kyokos face and Ren felt helpless next to her. Her tears always reduce him to basic primitive instincts. He wanted to carry her off to his cave, aka his bedroom, protect her from all the hurt in the world, cuddle her until it's better and keep her with him forever. Ok, idiotic possessive thoughts aside, he should do something.

"That's not true. She doesn't hate you, so calm down." "Easy for you to say, she obvious loves you." "She loves you, too." "She always runs to you, to play with her. And she sometimes even hides from me! Why does she hate me? What did I do wrong?" "You did nothing wrong." "I want her to love me too. Nobody loves me!" "We will talk to the vet tomorrow, to see what we can do, to improve your relationship with Princess, ok?" "Ok." "No more tears?" She sniffed one last time, nodded and took his offered hand. When she was back on her feet, she mumbled an apology.

"It's ok." And if he held her hand a bit longer then necessary, no one can blame him.

"Oh, and that's not true. There are lots of people who love you. So don't say something like that again."

**X**

"Out! I'm feeding Princess right now." With those words, Ren was rudely banished from the kitchen. The veterinary told them, it's possible for Princess to associated Kyoko with pain, because she had held her on the way to the clinic the first time. (This had resulted in some more tears. "I would never ever hurt you. I love you Princess!") To correct this, those memories have to be overwritten with positive ones. And Princess being a dog, the easiest and best method was food.

For the last couple of days, Kyoko had fed Princess all her meals out of her hand. Ren wasn't allowed in the kitchen at those times. Which was a shame, because he thought his two princesses looked adorable when they sat on the kitchen floor together.

**X**

"Tsuru..." "Ren." "What?" "My name. I want you to call me Ren." "But..." "No buts. We know each other for quite some time now and I would consider you one of my closest friends. For crying out loud, we've lived together for nearly three weeks now. The idea of calling me by my first name shouldn't be so shocking."

He was annoyed. Annoyed with her for always building distance between them, annoyed with Yashiro for making fun of him and calling him a failure in love, annoyed with himself, for his lack of process with her and a little bit annoyed with Princess, for not being clean yet and forcing him to clean up after her, but that is a different matter.

"You consider me as your friend?" She seemed to be a bit shocked.

"Yes, and I would like to think that I'm not alone in this friendship, or don't you want to be friends?" A part of him was afraid. Afraid she would rebuff his request.

"NO!" His heart broke. "I'm mean: yes. I would like to be your friend, but are you sure you want to be friends with an unimportant little newbie like me?" And it fixed itself back together.

"I'm very sure I want to be friends with you." He smiled one of his true loving smiles, which are reserved only for her. She seemed to be frozen for a moment and then looked down on her feet.

"So you are going to call me Ren?" He loved to hear her say that they are friends, but he still wanted to get his point cross.

"If it's really ok with you, R- Ren-san." Not perfect, but close enough, for now.

"Does that mean I can call you by your first name, too?" It took every single bit of his acting skills to not appear as nervous as he felt when asking this question.

"Of course. You're my sempai, you can call me as you see fit. I thought you didn't want to because you never did."

_/Call you as I seem fit? Honey, darling, mine. Now that would sound nice./_

Some of those thoughts must have been obvious on his face, because Kyoko froze up again and seemed to have second thoughts.

"So I can call you Pinky. How about Princess Pinky, sound good to you?" He grinned boyishly at her.

"NO! You can't call me that! And we already have a Princess!" "So Lady Pinky?" "No no no! You can call me Kyoko!" "You sure? I think I like Pinky better. Pinky and the Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain one is a genius, the other is insane." He started to singsong cheerfully.

"I'm not insane!" "Never said that. But you know, self-awareness is the first step to self-reforming." "Stupid, mean, bullying sempai-friends. Ha!" "I was only joking Kyoko. Don't be mad." "You really enjoy teasing me, don't you?" "One of my favorite pastimes." "I knew it!"

**X**

They stood in front of each other. Both had their arms crossed and stared stubbornly at each other.

"Kyoko, I don't want you to do the housework." "But it's no problem, You have a lot to do and little time." "No. I don't feel comfortable with that. You are not a maid." "But you let me live here and would let me pay rent for the room. I feel like, I'm taking advance of you." "Of course I wouldn't take money from you. I asked you to move in to help me with Princess." "It still feels wrong." "It would be wrong of me to let you do it." "But I have the time for it." "I can't let you clean my mess." "I live here. Half of it is my mess." "Ok, let's compromise. We share the work." They both relaxed a bit.

"Ok, what do you have in mind?" "We already have to clean after Princess all the time. We will both do the cleaning, meaning you will not do it all on your own. It would probably be medically advisable, if you do the cooking and I will do the laundry." "No no no! I can't let you do my laundry!" Her red face indicated how embarrassed she was at that thought.

"Please don't say that. It would mean I have to cook for myself." "No, I will cook for you. But my laundry? Do you even know how to do that?" She clearly tried to deflect his attention away from her embarrassment.

"Hey! A bit of trust would be nice." It worked.

"I didn't want to insult you, but how do you know?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"When I started in showbiz I lived on my own. And in the beginning I didn't have the money to have someone do it for me, So stop looking so skeptical." "Don't get me wrong, but you had the same amount of time to learn how to cook... and you still can't produce something halfway edible..." The second eyebrow unabashedly joined the first one.

"Point taken. But with laundry I'm good. Serious, I have some mad skills there." With a silly grin, he puffed out his chest and earned a giggle from his girl, eh roommate.

"Don't laugh. I'm virtuous on the ironing board." Ren winked at her and seemed so ridiculously proud, that Kyoko couldn't suppress a laugh.

"Oh, I'm sure you are."

**X**

"Princess, it's just a puddle. Come on. How can you be so afraid of a bit of water?" Kyoko unsuccessfully tried to coax Princess to cross a puddle on their walk. She squatted down on the other side of it.

"You should know that by now little miss is hydrophobic."

"Wah! Ts Ren-san don't you scare me like that! Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Stop laughing!" "Sorry, I didn't intent to scare you." "It's ok. What are you doing here?"

The small actress stood up and turned around to face him.

"I just got home and saw you from the car. I thought I could join you on your walk. Or is that a problem?" "Of course not. We're happy to have you here." Her blushing smile was answered with a blank face.

/Please tell me, you only show this smile to me. I don't want to share it./

Kyoko tilted her head to the side, at that.

"Did I say something wrong?" "No! Eh I just had a thought stuck in my head. Don't worry about it." "Are you sure?" "Yes. Where do you want to go?" "Just to the park."

They spent some enjoyable time together talking about their upcoming project (Kyoko told him about a guest role in a drama, and got, of course a bully role), their work and co-workers (not many people know, that Ren had an remarkable comical talent in imitating other people, like his choleric director and the demanding diva he worked with in his actual project) how Princess was doing (fine, but she was a bit of a coward, about everything. She is never going to be a watchdog.).

They walked close to each other, as Kyoko animatedly told a story how she and her LoveMe friends had chased after Princess because she had stolen a script. Ren was only half listening because he wondered if Kyoko even noticed how often their hands were 'accidentally' touching. He sure hell noticed.

**X**

"Give her to me!" "Nope. She is staying with me." Kyoko held their puppy in her arms and prevented Ren from reaching the dog.

"Until midnight she is my dog. After that you can have her back." "Oh, cheeky are we?" "You are still not getting her. I will hold her and cuddle her and you won't." "Did you just stick your tongue out at me?" His only answer was a Cheshire cat grin from Kyoko, as she sprinted through the lobby. He stared after her unbelieving for a second, then he gave a small nod to the security guard and caught up to her. With one swift movement he scoopedher up in his arms.

"Put me down!" "No. If you won't let me carry Princess, I will just carry both of you." "You can have her!" "Too late."

**X**

"The wounds look good. Everything is healed and she didn't seem to be in pain when you touch her. That one leg still needs bandages, but that shouldn't be a problem. I think we can get rid of the cone. But you have to look out. She is putting on a bit too much weight." "Well, that wouldn't be a problem if someone wouldn't regularly feed half his lunch to her." The pointed glare Ren received would scare anyone into surrender. That he eventried to defend himself should be considered brave.

"Did not..." "I'm not stupid. You think I don't see how you feed her at dinner when my back is turned." Never said it was a good defense. He wisely decided to keep his mouth shut after that.

**X**

A high pitched scream was heard in the quiet apartment on this fine Sunday, that the both of them had off. Ren's blood ran cold. It was Kyoko and the scream came out of his bedroom.

/Please tell me she didn't find the photos I have of her./

He hurried from the living room to his bedroom and tried to figure out how to explain those away. And anything starring research wasn't acceptable.

"No! Princess! Bad girl, very bad girl!"

It Didn't sound so bad to him. He arrived at the crime scene to see Kyoko wrestle, what seemed to be the remains from something that once was probably a bra, from their dog. He laughed so hard, he had tears in his eyes.

"Don't you laugh. You have no idea how ridiculously expensive those are."

The resulting punishment was that all of Princess' toys were locked away and both of them got the silence treatment.

**X**

It was late. Very late. The filming for the drama took longer than planned. Kyoko only had a small role, but she was needed on set most of the time. Ren had already called at 10 o'clock, when he got home and she wasn't thereyet. Only the promise that someone of the crew would drop her off kept him from picking her up right there and then.

More than an hour later she finally stumbled through the front door.

"Hello, Ren-san?" It was strangely quiet and she didn't get an answer.

"Hmm, is he already sleeping?" But Princess didn't answer her, because she was fast asleep in Kyokos arms. Kyoko couldn't even be angry at Ren for skipping dinner. She normally cooks dinner for them but right now every cell in her body screamed at her to skip it too. She was hungry, but the effort to get up and make something was unthinkable at that moment. She fell down on the sofa and stopped any moving apart of breathing.

That was how Ren found her when he entered the apartment again.

"Are you asleep, Kyoko?" "Ren-san? What? I thought you were asleep." He made himself comfortable next to her and lifted a plastic bag on his lap.

"I hope you like Italian takeout." "You are a saint."

**X**

"You're really going to be an idiotic parent one day! Ren-san, you have to be more stern with her." "But she looked so sweet..." "I give up! You are a lost case. Let's hope the future mother of your kids is more stern than you or they're going to be little spoilt brats." " Is that an application for the job?" "Tsuruga Ren!" "Ops, come Princess, we take our leave. Mama is angry." "Argh! YOU!"

**X**

"Oh, that trailer looked exciting, didn't it? And we will now talk to the star of the movie, Tsuruga-kun! Here he is! Thank you very much for coming here." "Thank you for having me here." "Ok, that looked wow! I can't wait for the movie to come out. Tell us something about the filming." "Oh, the filming is fantastic. Everybody is professional and it's fun to work with them." Yes, this is the movie he told Kyoko about. You know, with the diva and the director. They talked a bit more about the movie, until the interviewer asked some more personal questions.

"In the last couple of weeks, you or your manager were often seen with a small puppy. Is it yours?" Actually yes. I've had her now for five weeks. Her name is Princess." "Oh, so cute. Tell us more about her." "She is remarkable. She understands every word you say and listens to every third of it. And she has the fascinating knowledge which pair of shoes is the most expensive one, and uses it as a chewing toy." "Oh?" "Yes, I fear I spoil her too much and I'm not stern enough with her."

**X**

"How are you doing that, Kyoko-chan?" "Yashiro-san? What are you doing here?" "We were in the building. Ren will drop by in a moment, now how are you doing it?" "What?" "That Princess just stays in her basket and plays with her toy." "I told her to stay put." "Yeah, but how do you get her to listen? When she is with Ren we have to keep her on the leash all the time. She does what she wants all time." "That wouldn't be a problem if Ren would take her training more serious."

**X**

"Kyoko, why are you packing?" He didn't even try to hide his confusion and hurt. He saw that all her stuff had disappeared from the bathroom and went to her room, only to see her throwing her things into her bag. It was frightening, how hurt and depressed he was at the idea of living without her again.

"I noticed I already overstayed my time here. I don't want to cause you any more problems. I'll be out in an hour. Don't worry."

"What? Why? You didn't overstay your time here. I like having you here. And you didn't cause any problems for me, whatever gave you that absurd idea?" He grabbed her bag from her bed and held it close to him.

"It doesn't matter. You don't have to be so polite about it. I'm a terrible kohai and friend."

"Of course it matters! You are moving out without telling me why! What did I do wrong..." He had risen his voice at the beginning, but it broke in the end. To him this felt like a breakup. She avoided his eyes and tried to get her bag back from him.

"You did nothing wrong. But Princess doesn't need to much care anymore and we said I would stay here as long as Princess needs care. Give that bag back to me."

His anger rose again.

"Bullshit! Something happened or you won't just pack your things and leave without taking to me first!" At his outburst, she looked up to him for a moment. Her eyes were puffy and red. Had she cried? He claimed calmed down and continued in a softer voice.

"Kyoko, what happened? Please talk to me." "It's something I heard earlier." "And what did you hear?" "Um, the security guards were talking, well there is a new guard and I wanted to introduce myself, they didn't see me and were talking about the verified visitor list. And I heard Tareko-san say that for your apartment you can put people on the list and your girlfriend. I was confused about this, because I didn't know you had a girlfriend and I am living here. Then I realized that your girlfriend probably wasn't here because of me. You don't want her to see another girl in your home. And I stayed longer then intended and you must miss her so I will just leave." All this was said in such remarkably little time, that Ren needed a second to understand everything she told him. Then he started to laugh out loud. This really was completely ridiculous.

"You. Hahaha! You, they were talking about you." "What?" "The guards. They were talking about you. I don't have a girlfriend. There is no other girl. They said, that you can add people on the visitor list. Not some mysterious other girl." "Oh..."

She stopped tugging on her bag.

"Why would they think that?" At that he laughed even louder.

"Whatever could give them that idea? A young girl moves in with a young guy. They get a dog together. They go grocery shopping together. Walk their dog together. Completely unbelievable."

"They think, I'm you're... That we are..." Her brain seemed to have a short circuited, as she got redder and redder. After some time her brain had to reboot.

"Come, come! We have to go down and clear this mistake up! Your reputation could be ruined by this!"

"And what exactly do you plan to tell them? That I just lure pretty young girls into my home and don't let them out again?" "What? No! But aren't you embarrassed that they think you would date someone like me?" "No." "What?" "No. I'm not embarrassed because somebody thinks we are a couple. I think it's flattering and I like being envied by them." "Envied?" "Of course. They are envying me for the funny, sweet, beautiful, smart, caring girl who I live with. So no. I don't think I want to correct them. And now: do you need help putting your stuff away again?" "Eh?"

**X**

"So, what's our plan now?" They took shelter under some shop canopy. When they had been on their walk it had started to rain, a lot. In a matter of minutes it went from nice dry weather to raining cats and dogs. Heaven's gates had opened and it bucked down all it had in storage. They were soaked to the core, even with Ren trying to protect them with his jacket.

"Well, I'm listening Mr. The-weather-report-is-rubbish-we-don't-need-an-umbrella. What's your plan to get us home?" She challenged him with a raised eyebrow as she held a shivering Princess close to her chest.

"Ok, first, with this rain an umbrella would have been useless. And second, give me a second I'll work something out." "I will believe that when I see that."

Not only was the dog chilled to the bone, but Kyoko too. That was why she shuffled closer to him, to steal a bit of his warmth.

He didn't have a plan on how to get them home, but he had an pretty good idea about his long-term plan for their future, as he looked down at the girl next to him.

**X**

"Ok. Please, you have to keep her still. I can't vaccinate her if she is moving like this." "I'm trying to." Kyoko was out of the room for a moment to give the immunization card to the nurse; in the meantime Ren and the doctor were unsuccessfully trying to actually immunized Princess. She jumped from the treatment table and played fetch with them and she was winning.

"Princess, sit." Kyoko had reentered the room and Princess instantly followed her command. She picked the dog up and sat her back on the table where the doctor was able to do his work easily.

"I have no idea why she doesn't listen to me but always does what Kyoko tells her."

"That's an easy one. Most likely, because she is the boss and you are the snack box."

The look he received from Kyoko said one thing and one thing only.

I told you so.

**X**

Ren slowly awoke from a very pleasant dream, starring Kyoko and him and their shared future. It involved their wedding and Kyoko had looked so indescribably beautiful in her white dress and the sweet kiss at the end. A kiss that transcribed to reality, as he felt the small warm body next to him moved and he was completely awoken by a loving kiss.

"Argh! Princess get away! Out of my bed!"

Of course it hadn't been Kyoko. We are talking about Mr. Snail-pace here, get realistic.

Princess was a very timid dog. She was afraid of everything, other people, cars, other dogs, loud noise, storms.

Last one had led to Ren taking pity on her once and he had let her sleep in his bed, once.

Princess didn't really care for the once part of their deal. But let's face it both his princesses had him warped around their finger. One of them just hadn't realized it yet.

**A.N.**

Hey, I just managed to write 12 and 1/2 pages on a short story chapter without getting them together. I'm bloody brilliant. Even if they are kind of together already, they just need to kiss. But that's the difficult part with those two.

There will be one more chapter, then this story is done.

Tell me what you think. I had to many ideas in my head for the length of the story I planned. The result is this. I tried to give you a view of their life together, without having to write an whole fic. Which one did like, which one didn't you like? If one of you want to pick one of the scenes up, please do. Just tell me and send me a link to the story.

And thank you and muchas gracias to my reviewers. You are the best.


	4. Chapter 3

"Yukihito-kun, I' so sorry. Yashiro-san?" "Your dog just pissed in my shoe." "I'm really, really sorry." "You were 10 meters away and she just ignored you, when you tried to stop her from doing that." "I will buy you a new pair?"

For the first time ever Ren was on the receiving end of Yashiros glare and he finally understood why his fans would freeze over, when hit with it. His manager turned and walked away from him, without his shoes. That left Ren at the crime scene with Princess still in his hands.

"Bad girl. You pissed off Yashiro-san." Not even he could suppress his grin. "Don't do something like this again, ok." His only answer he got was an euphoric face lick. "Yeah, I think he's acting a bit like a drama queen too."

**X**

"Tsuruga-kun, we are very happy that you are willing to work with its on this project." "I'm happy too. It sounds very interesting." "We thought next week Thursday afternoon would be a good time for the photo shot. If that's ok with you." "I'm sure that's fi-" "No. He doesn't have time then." "Oh maybe a week later?" "Neither." "Oh... You have a fixed regular date then?" "Um." "He goes to the dog obligation training every Thursday afternoon and Monday evening." The voice Yashiro used to say this was so cold and demanding that it was clear: this was not negotiable and a fact so sure it could be written in stone. "Ah. Yes." Ren had the courtesy to look embarrassed.

**X**

They sat on the couch after dinner. He enjoys their shared dinners. Kyoko would cook, sometimes traditional Japanese kitchen, sometimes she would just try something else. They both learn stuff from it. Kyoko learned is ridiculous difficult to get some ingredients or it was until Ren looked up a specialty stores, gave them his credit card number and told them get whatever she is asking for whenever she asks for it. And Ren learned he doesn't like eggplant very much and Princess shares this option with him, but don't tell Kyoko that.

So he enjoys dinner and maybe he enjoys the time after even more, when they sit down on the couch with a tea and watch a movie together or just talk. Today Princess lay on her back between them with her head on Kyokos lap and let Kyoko rub her belly. Princess was a cuddle-dog. Playing was great, but cuddling was even more fantastic.

_/Lucky little doggy./_ He maybe, big maybe, was a tiny little bit jealous on Princess. _/Little fluffy bastad./_

"Ok, so you decided to get some professional puppy training, yes." "Exactly. I thought she should start to listen to me too, not just you." He had thought up a great way to explain why he is going to cut into her Princess-time. "Aha." An highly amused smile played on her lips. "What's with that smile? Did I say something funny?" "No no." That wasn't very convincing if you consider that her smile got wider. "What?" "Oh it's just Yashiro-san call me today when I was at school and his version of the story sounded kind of different. Tell me Princess which one is telling the true." Said puppy gave a happy jap and enjoyed the belly rub. "Yeah I think that too."

He is so going to kill Yashiro. Who needs an manager anyway.

**X**

"Hello I'm Rukama Hina. You can call me Hina-san. I will be your trainer. You will probably learn as much if not more than your dog. I will ask you lots of questions. Some you will be embarrassed to answer truthfully. Don't do that. I will notice you are lying and it would really be better for everyone if you answer right away. Maybe some of this answers are very private but a dog is a family member, so of course it's private, but don't worry I'm a professional. Nothing you will tell me will find its way to the press." "Nice to meet you Hina-san. Please take good care of us." Ren stood before a short woman in her mid-fifths with a friendly face.

"I will be honest with you. Most the times the problem lies with the owners and not the dogs, so I hope you can take critic." "I will to my best not to waste all our time." "Good boy."

**X**

Once every week they compare their schedules to see how they should take care of Princess. When and where are they going to switch or are there days when one of them doesn't have time at all. Oh and they when both of them have free time, when they have a free evening out afternoon together. Ren sure knows that he defeat those free evening like an imported appointment, not that Yashiro didn't help him once he understood why those times are so important. (He let him live for telling Kyoko on him the last time out of pure mercy.) The fact that Kyoko only one called him to tell him she is running late (she was close to tears, when she called) let him hope that she valued those times as much as he does.

"One of those days you going to tell me what you do every Wednesday evenings Kyoko." "Yeah, one of those days... Oh Tuesday I'm finished with Box-R at last 3:30pm. When will you be done?" "If everything works out 4pm if not 5pm. How about you give me a call once you are done and I will pick you up. It's not far, if it's ok that you wait there for a bit." "Hmm where is your shot? If it's close enough maybe Princess and I can come over. I will need to walk her anyway." Ren calculated the safety of the streets at that time and area. "That should be fine. Let's get a map. I will show you where we will be."

**X**

"No, Tuesday evening I won't have time for an interview, I'm sorry. We will have to look for an other time." "But we need that interview before Friday and you don't have much time otherwise. I did my job. I'm pretty sure I know 80-90% of you schedule." _/That sounds worrisome./_ A thought actor and manager shared though the antic and powerful telepathic bond of manager and charge. "Hmm, maybe if you are willing to cut this interview a bit short, Tsuruga-kun (If some reporter or co-star seems a bit to eager to talk or work with him Yashiro, being the great manager that he is, change to his last name to discourage them from thinking it's alright to call him informal.) has a long lunch break at 1pm on Wednesday." "No. I have to walk Princess then." "Oh that's fine. We can do the interview while we walk her." /_Didn't seem like I have much of a choice here./_

**X**

"LoveMe work on Tuesday?" Kyoko stood in Sawaras office and worried her lips. "Actual I have plans then. Is it possible to do it on Monday or Wednesday?" "Oh is it something important?" It was rare that Kyoko ask for time off for private reasons, so he was a bit curious what her plans were. "Um, I'll take care of Princess that day and Tsuruga-san will be off early and I wanted to ask him about the obligation training so I know how to train her right too." She said this remarkable fast and blushed a little bit. Sawara had some mix feelings about all this. On one hand he thought it was adorable how attracted she was Tsurugas dog and how she always loved to take care of it. On the other hand he was a bit worried she could get to attracted to Ren and that he then had to cut her off. He feel bad for Kyoko if she gets her hope up just to be disappointed.

"Hmm I will ask the others of one of them have time..." But he knew it wasn't his place to interfere in this.

**X**

In spite of his best efforts his co-workers were very uncooperative on his task to finish early. It was already 4:45pm and Kyoko could be here any moment. Maybe he was a tiny little bit impatience or you could get this impression because he checked the time every couple of minutes. Yashiro just went to the front door to show her the right way to the studio. He thought she would be here earlier even if she took Princess on a long walk. When they finally showed up Kyoko was pouting while Yashiro looked at her with a mix of embarrassment and guild.

"I'm really sorry Kyoko-chan." "It's fine. It's not your fault. Can we watch Ren-san or do we have to wait in his dressing room?" At the beginning she sounded resigniered but as she asked about watching him act her eyes and voice bright up.

"Of course. If you can keep Princess quiet." "Sure no problem." "Sure..." Ren could bodily feel Yashiros dark glare. True to her word she kept Princess quiet mostly because she fell asleep next to Kyoko no five minutes later. In the meantime he got a determined look in his eyes, just because his co-stars decided to be goofballs today, doesn't mean they are allowed to embarrass him in front of Kyoko. Said, done. He talked with the director and his co-star a few words. In the next take his co-star was able to follow him though the scene and later watched him with a intimidated look on his face, not that Ren cares about that. Sometimes you have to force somebody into their luck. The last two scenes were one-takes too.

He signalled Yashiro that he would be with them in five minutes and hurried to his dressing room. In a record time he changed and washed his face. Maybe he took a few seconds longer than necessary to fix his hair, but lest than five minutes he was back with them.

"Hey, how it's my princess today?" It was deliberated that he was close to soundless when he went to her side and whispered his question into her ear. Kyoko jumped nearly out of her chair and pressed the script she was reading close to her chest.

"Don't you scare me like that! Learn how to make some noise you... You ninja!" He laughed at her flushed face. He loves it when she blushes. She mumbled something in a low voice, he caught something about 'bully' and 'needs an other hobby' and laughed even more. Kyoko squint her eyes and shot him an displeased glare.

"Ok, ok. But you didn't answered my question." She thought hard for a moment to recall the question.

"Oh! She is fine and she was very well behaved. At the moment she seems to dreaming about running, maybe she is hunting something." And he did it again. He had this amused look on his face and this strange twinkle in his eyes, as if he made a funny joke and she was the only one who didn't get it. That look was downright annoying.

"Hmm, knowing Princess it's more likely she is running away from something." "Hey! Don't you insult my dog, mister!" "She is my dog too. Come on wake her up and let's go."

He grabbed her bag over the shoulder and smiled warmly at her.

"Wakey, wakey. Time to go." "Should I carry her?" "No, Ren-san. She has four now healthy legs. She can walk quite well on her own." "Ok. What ever you think is best."

They easily fell into step with each other. It felt comfortable as they talked about their day. "So what took you do long to get here?" He saw Yashiros panicky head shake a moment to late. Her whole aura turned dark, unseen for the two men, her grudge demons came out, but Princess saw them and tried to play with them. She got the tail of one and started a tug-a-war with it. Some other demons tried to help their camarad out. It was really adorable, apart of the fact that most people couldn't see what Princess was fighting with.

_A bit earlier in front of the studio_

"Where do you think you are going, young lady?" "Oh hello. Can you tell me how to get to Tsuruga-sans studio?" "I don't think so." The guard blocked the way in. He was a bit on the small side in his late twenties with a reduced hairline. "What?" "You wouldn't get in." "But he is waiting for me." "Sure. You are his soul mate and he waited his whole life for you. I heard it all." "What? No! I'm not a fan! Well, not that don't think he is a fantastic actor, he is the best! But we know each other!" "Just because you met him on a meet-and-greed didn't mean he knows you or the other way round." "No no no. I'm an actress too and his friend." "Please safe your breath. I heard hundreds of excuses like this. Get it in your fangirl-mind: you are not Ren Tsurugas one and only love." "Listen! This is Princess. His dog! We were on a walk and now we met with Ren-san again." To reinforce her argument she picked up Princess and held her up for the guard to see. "Ok I admire that's a new one but you better leave now or we are going to remove you here. He doesn't need a stalker here." "I'm not! You know I'm going to call them!" She tried to but neither Ren (because his phone was in his dressing room and he still on stage) nor Yashiro (because he accidentally crashed it and hadn't noticed jet). "Why don't they pick up? How about we go to them and if they didn't recognize me you can throw me out." But the guard was unmoved and even grabbed his walkie-talkie. "You know what? You win, I'm leaving but you explain it to Ren why we wouldn't meet up with him!" Her face was red from anger and she turned around dramatically. "Princess heel. We are leaving!"

_2 minutes later_

Yashiro strolled out and looked around. The 'helpful' guard from before went over to him. "Can I help you?" "Oh I'm looking for a friend. She should be around here already. Have you seen her? She has a small puppy with her. She has short red-brown hair. Maybe she got lost on the way to the studio..." Our dear new friend started to sweat as he listened to Yashiro.

"Um, well. A puppy you say?" "Yes, her name is Kyoko." "And you and Tsuruga-kun are friends with her?" "Yes. You saw her? Where did she go?""Um I kind of sent her...away..." His voice got thinner and thinner the more he said until it was nearly unhearable at the end. In the meantime Yashiros eyes wided with each word and his mouth open for a silent scream. "YOU DID WHAT?!" Well or maybe not so silent. With those words he grabbed the guards shoulders and shook him. "When? And where did she go?" "Just a few minutes ago." The intimidated guard pointed in the direction in which Kyoko stormed away to.

"KYOKO-CHAN! WAIT! DON'T GO! KYOKOOOOOOOOOOOooooo!"

The matchmaking manager hurried after her and tried to find her. The end of the story he found her and brought her back and both sent an evil look at the guard.

**X**

They spent the day in the park. Ren told her about the training seasons with Princess (with mediocre successes) and Kyoko finally decide to him about her troubles with the guard (Ren received an evil glare for laughing, but he promised that it won't happen again). After they played with Princess until she was worn out and they sat down in a quiet café. Princess got some water and decided to sleep between Kyokos legs and Ren and Kyoko ordered some coffee and cake. He was happy watching her as she told him about an interview she is going to have with the Box-R girls.

"I'm just nervous. Natsu-chan is such a confident girl and I'm just me. What if everyone is disappointed when they see me. But Natsu-chan is a bully and everyone hates her and they will hate me." "You are a talented, cute, well-mannered actress and nobody really thinks you are like your characters. Oh and I highly doubt that anyone could hate you once they know you a little bit." He was rewarded with a fine blush creeping up her face. "You shouldn't say stuff like this." She mumbled quietly. "But I like to. I still have to find out how red your face can get." When their fingertips brushes against each other it was accidental but neither of them pulled away. "Meanie." "What did you call me?" "Nothing you don't deserve." Ren was sure it wasn't only his hand that creeped closer to the other one. "So that's how you thank me for always helping you and staying up hours at night to practice your lines?" The twinkle in his eyes and the boyish grin left no doubt that he was joking. "Hey most of the times they are your lines..." "You are the one that always asks if I have lines to learn and if you could help." His trump tenderly caressed her hand. "But it's so much fun. You can work in so many different dramas and movies and I only get bully roles. And you said it helps you too." "Oh it does, most of the time." "It doesn't help sometimes?" Her hand withdrew a little bit but he interwired their fingers more and held it where it was. "Sometimes my co-stars couldn't live up to the expressions I have for the scenes I got from you." She blushed but didn't try to remove her hand again. "And sometimes it's difficult not to laugh when you messed up a line or the time you nearly fell over the couch." "Hey! That happened once. Once!" He got a small kick under the table for laughing here. "Ouch." He softly trapped her food in revenge. "Stop make fun of of me." All this kicking and tapping awoke the happy little dog to who it was clear that this means playtime. "Oh look you woke up." They both looked under the table where Princess heroically and passionately fought one of her old foes. Ren pulled and wiggled his foot as Princess tug on his shoelace with a growl.

"And that's why she thinks your shoes are her personal chewing toys..." She didn't pull her hand away.

**X**

The job of a manager is multifaceted work. You need the best for this line of work. You deal with fans and haters and must look after you charge's physical and mental health.(This is the reason why Yashiro is so keen on getting Ren and Kyoko together, this and the thing that is the most fun he ever had with Ren.) Oh and you have to deal with narcissistic, self-imported, ignorant divas who think their interests are the most important ones and that they are the best and nobody comes close to them. And those are just the other managers.

Right now his job was to stay out of the way to give the reporter and Ren the illusion of an intimate interview, but close enough to make sure the young woman didn't mistake how intimate this meeting was. She seemed to be interested in more than just a fashion magazine story.

"Thank you for taking time for this interview, Tsuruga-sama, Ren? What call I call you?" The way she casually touched his arm didn't make him feel comfortable in this conversation. "Tsuruga-kun will be fine." "Ok. Um Tsuruga-kun you were voted to be the best-dressed man once more. Your classic and elegant style manage to impress once more. Ok now tell me, to you choose your outfits yourself or do you have a stylist?" She walked closer than really necessary. "Oh most the times I'm on my own but to some special events I talk with my trusted stylist. It's always good to have someone who knows what looks great on you. At LME we call her the Witch. I don't know if you heard from her before." "Oh the Witch! Of course I know her. If there is a fashion god she is his prophet. Right now I don't know who I envy more. She for being allowed to dress you up or you for being dressed by her. Can you introduce me to her?" "I will ask her the next time I see her but that doesn't happen very often like I said normally I'm on my own." "Of course. Back to you. For the classic style you wear so well is a bit uncharacteristic for a man as young as you. I mean you are just 21. Why this style and not something more extravagant as other young stars prefer?" She was closer than he would prefer right now. He took big step forward and squared down to pet Princess. "Actual I just like this best. I grow very fast very tall when I was younger and because of that it was sometimes a bit difficult to find clothes that didn't look ridiculous on me. Most modern youngsters styles just didn't work for me." "But you did experiment with those styles? Any peccadillos of youth you can share?" "Oh better not." "Please." "Ok, one. When I was 12 or so I made the very dubious choice to buy a silver baggy jeans. I wore it once. My father laughed at me for 20 minutes strait. I changed right away and never wore it again." "Are there photos?" "Absolutely not." "Ok ok. So you always wear this kind of clothes?" Ren successfully managed to keep Princess between him and his interviewer most of the time. "Oh no. I wear jeans and shirts too. They are comfortable and when going out with little Princess here, is a lot more practical to wear clothes that are easy to wash." "It would like to see that." She had enough of the dog being always in the way. So she picked a stick up and tried to get Princess interested in it, then she sent it flying. Princess sat down to stared in the direction she threw the stick then at her. "Go get it." "She is not a playing fetch the stick kind of dog. She likes tug-wars much better. Right sweety?" He pulled out a toy and started playing with her.

She watched them for some time. The dog definitely was an obstacle to gain the interest of the handsome actor. But as she looked thought the photos she made as Ren playfully growled back at the puppy and laughed whole-hearted, she decided that very few got the chance to show the readers this completely natural and true Tsuruga Ren.

**X**

Ren was hit with a piece of dry dog food on the forehead. "Ok stop. Come here... What the freaking hell are you doing? Princess doesn't take you serious at all. That's not good for her. She is a very anxious dog, she needs a clear leader. She is more interested in me than you. And I'm ignoring her." "Well you are the trainer here. You tell me what I should do. That's what I'm paying you for." "Oh how about you start with actual doing what I tell you to do and not just here but at home too." The small woman glared up to him until he looked away in shame.

"Listen boy. You don't have a dominant dog otherwise she would do what ever she wants by now. But she needs someone to follow and to depend on or she is going to be very unhappy. And to make sure she sees you like this you have to be strict with her. Are you taking care of her alone?" "I will try my very best." He didn't give her an answer to her last question.

**X**

Ren could only stare in disbelieve. It was warm and sunny. It hasn't rain for nearly two weeks and they were nowhere near open water. So how and where did Princess find a mud pit to role in? The normally soft black fur was a brown sticky mess. The puppy in question didn't feel any shame and happily ran around him and jumped up to him getting him dirty in the process too.

"How did you? I let you run for five minutes, lest than five minutes and you find the only mud pit in whole Tokyo?" He lifted her up and held her an arm length away. She showed her displeasure with his actions by looking at him with great hurt and heartbreaking whimper. "Don't you. Look at you. In half an hour Kyoko is here to pick you up and I planned to go out and eat a late lunch with her. But I can't give you to her if you look like this." He carried her back cautious not to get dirt on his reminding clothe. A quest he was doomed to fail.

When he arrived back at the studio his manager looked him up and down and raised an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know?" "Princess found some mud." "That much is obvious. Maybe you should clean both of you up." "It's there any chance that you would be a good manager and you will give Princess a bath while I clean my clothes?" "No. I will be a great manager and let you do it and I will organize some fresh clothes for you before your next appointment." "Kyoko is coming over in a few minutes and it would be a lot was easier and faster if somebody would help me?" "Oh then try to convince her to help you with the bath."

His unhelpful manager turned around and put his gloves on in one fluid move. Ren still saw the big fat grin blooming on his face. And did his shoulders shake with suppressed laughter right now?

"Come on Princess we have a bathing date. What do you say?"

All in all this could easily claim the number one spot on his worst dates ever list. Even worst than the date he had when he was 14 and accidentally took out the twin sister of his girlfriend, and they hadn't been identically twins... That was the one time when he completely understood why he was dumped. That's not a mistake you should do after three months, not at all.

Princess fought nails and trails against him. He now has an unbecoming scratch on his neck and some on his arms and chest. The small bathroom looked like a battlefield and he decided to leave a tip for the poor soul who has to clean it. But it didn't help, she was significant cleaner and notable unhappier. She looked at him with the greatest hurt imaginable, as if he was the worst traitor scrum ever. That's right Judas go back to traitor kindergarten, step aside Benedict Arnold and make room for a real expert, Ren Tsuruga.

He heard a faint knock on the door to his dressing room. Hopefully it was the guy who had his fresh clothes and not Kyoko. "Yes?", He shouted out to make sure the person hears him though the bathroom and dressroom doors.

"Ren-san? Can I come in?" Shot it was Kyoko and he was least than presentable. "I was told you need new clothes? Someone gave it to me when I was leaving LME." He should have expected this. "Yes, please come in."

The door opened carefully and closed again. "Ren-san?" "In the bathroom." He opened the door a bit to explain why he was there and needed new clothes, but Princess decided to take this moment to demonstrated why every dog is part ninja dog and freed herself out of his grip and sprinted out the door and up to Kyoko probably to complain about the inhuman treatment she suffered though his hands. Kyoko shrieked as the wet puppy tried to jump up into her arms. "What?" "She rolled in the mud." Ren stepped into the bathroom doorway and smiled apologetically at Kyoko. "You are sure it was her?" At his confused look she gave him a bit more info. "Well, I see a clean dog and a not so clean owner..." With this she signalled to his hair. A quick check proved that now he was dotted with dirt. "How? When?" He shook his head and turned back around to the bathroom. "Can you first give me some towels for Princess?" "Sure."

He turned back to the bathroom. When he searched for the towels he had to notice that his shirt, one of his favourite shirts, not only was dirty but had small tears in it. Angrily he throw the shirt into the trash before he grabbed two towels and brought them Kyoko.

"Than..k ehm you." Kyoko seemed to have a tiny problem with the first word as she looked up to Ren and then rushed to second one out as she looked down on Princess again. Was that a blush on her face? Ren suppressed his grin long enough to turn around and watched her out of his dressers mirror. Her eyes peeked up to his back multiple times. As he got under the shower he decided he was to harsh with Princess. This wasn't his worst date, the twin thing was still worst. Not that those feeling were reciprocated. Princess still thought he was the worst human on earth, for sure.

Later he got Princess affection back by not feeding her under the table when Kyoko had been to the restroom.

**X**

"Come on slowpoke! Don't tell me you aren't hungry." He heard a joyful bark behind him as he raced down the floor to his front door. He swung the door open and was greeted by Kyoko who sat on the sofa. She sat quite stiff.

"Tsuruga-san, you have a guest." And truefully, next to her sat Hina-san with a cup from his best china in her hands.

"Hello Tsuruga-kun." "Hello..." He wasn't surprised often but to have somebody at his home he didn't expect there was one of the things that could do the trick. Princess took this moment to greet everyone with exuberant joy which shows itself by jumping on the sofa and running back and forth between Kyoko and Hina. Kyoko drew the line when Princess tried to get a drink out of Hinas cup.

"Princess come here. Down in your place." The puppy wasn't very happy but followed the instructions and lay down in her basket next to the sofa. "That's fine. Here." She was rewarded with a pretty on the head and one of her toys. "Um, I'm better go and look after the dinner... Um yeah..."

"Don't worry she didn't just let me in. She checked first if I'm really who I'm saying I'm. Your mai-" "She is not my maid! Or servant or anything like this." "Ok." "She lives here with me." He didn't know what reaction he was expecting from her but being hit with a piece of dog food between the eyes should had been on that list.

"When I ask if your are taking care of her alone that it exactly what I wanted to know! I'm a professional I'm not going to sell private informations about my customers. You don't want people to know you have a girl, ok. I'm not going to tell them. Do you get that? Do you have an idea how worried I had been for Princess about the lack of an clear alpha in her life? This means we have to take a completely different way in her training, an easier one. You don't lie to the professionals you pay to solve your problems, got it?"

In the intervening time two things happened. 1, Ren sat in his armchair and tried to look as small and guilty as possible and 2, Princess slowly crawled tiny bit for bit closer to the former projectile that lay on the floor between his legs without leaving her basket of course, well at least her hind paw was still touching it, that counts.

**X**

"She is so sweet!" "Are you going to make her a film dog?" "Can she do tricks?" He had just finished his lunch and in 20 minutes the shot would start again. Right then he was surrounded by three girls who play smaller roles in his drama. All were very young, all pretty, all single and all them loved dogs, it seemed.

"Do you need someone to look after her from time to time? I would love to do that." Her voice, pitch and the way she flees her eyelashes at him made abundantly clear Princess wasn't the only one she would love to spend time with.

"That wouldn't be necessary. That what I'm here for." A dark aura filled the room from one second to the next. It centre was a creature with a voice from beyond the grave and clad in a colour that must have come from the devils mind to punish a soul for eternity.

In the meantime Princess jumped from Rens lap to play with her favourite playmates that Kyoko sometimes bring along, you know the little ones that fly around.

**X**

He began to sweat. He felt like he was eleven again and the teacher had called him to the front of the class to present a homework he hadn't done. Only difference; back then he had been more confident in being able to improvise something. A nervous glace to the side revealed an unimpressed Hina-san watching his unsuccessful attempts to make Princess listen to him. Said dog was quite happy destroying one of his house shoes and ignoring him. They were at LME and Hina-san followed him for a day to see how a normal day was like for them. It hasn't went to well so far. All talking, commanding and trying to catch the little dog had been remarkable unsuccessful, so far. Even if this 'so far' was only still attached to the last sentence because he stubborn refused to give up in front of his dog trainer, till now. Then something strange and incredible... no something miraculous happened she picked up her ears, looked to the door, actual ran up to him, dropped the shoe... And then ran passed him to sit down in front of the door... But that was at least half of what he told her and that was a pretty good result for him right now. This feeling didn't last long because Hinas look gave him the idea that this was the part were the teacher says: 'Very nice. Can you please repeat the middle part?'

Hina didn't say a word as walked over to the door and opened it a bit. "Hello Kyoko-chan." "Hel-" "Everything is fine. Have a nice day." And closed out again.

"Did you know what just happened?" Yes this was that repeating part. "Umm..." He was hit by a piece of dry dog food, again. "Best case scenario she thought it would be better to listen to you before Kyoko comes in. Worst case scenario she just tried to blame you."

**X**

"I'm sorry." "It's ok it. It just stunk for a second. Don't worry. Actual I should thank you for taking care of it." "You should be more careful with your stunts. Now please give me the bandage, the scissors and patches." "You didn't intend to bandage half of my torso do you?" "Of course not. I'll just put something over the wound. We'll have to keep an eye on it to make sure it didn't scar, ok?"

Ren had a small accident on set and got a deep scratch on the back. It wasn't very bad but should be monitored for the next couple of days and will probably make sure he sleeps on the stomach for at least as long. Somehow Kyoko got to know about this too. His personal bet was on some kind of manager, with glasses and who change his mobiles more often that other people their clothes. And now he was in her competent care.

"Thank you very much. Please let take out my fantastic nurse for dinner." "I'm not your nurse!" "Oh could have fooled me."

**X**

Kyoko say on the couch in an ball of misery. She sat on her feet and held her head in front of her knees. Today had been a terrible day. In school they were assigned a group project and nobody wanted to work with her. Who even thought that group project would be a good idea in a school where the students are only half the time in class? Then she had a discussion with the director of her new drama (small role for only a couple of episodes) about one scene. She understood that it was important for the storyline and all but the lines of her character didn't made any sense to her and all her suggestions to solve this dilemma were rejected. In addition to that she got the news she had to go to a show to promote that drama in three weeks and Sho would be in the show too. And there was nobody she could complain about it to. Moko-san was with her family to a wedding from one of her cousins and Ren was out of town for a location shot till tomorrow. She kind of want him here to have somebody to listen to her ranting. To add insult to injury she got her period this morning. The world was an unfair hell hole full of misery, pain, depressions and idiots.

She probably would have stayed in her cocoon out of self-pity if it weren't for Princess. She first lay next to the couch and whined in a low pitch. - No reaction.

Then she put her first paw on the couch. - Nothing.

The second one. - Nada...

And lay her head down and whined once more with big puppy-eyes. - She didn't even look up.

Ok, the next step was a bit tricky. Slowly she lifted one of her feet form the ground, and stopped once in the middle to check that there wasn't any protest, and put it on the couch. - Two seconds without a reaction.

Second leg up. She snuggled up to Kyokos side. - There was a small reaction, but not enough.

She crawled under her arm, following an old dog instinct that makes it absolutely clear that a fool proof way of cheering up a sad human is to stick a cold, wet dog nose in its face and to make sure nothing could go wrong she licked Kyokos cheek.

"Hey Princess." See she started to smile. "Come here sweety." And now she even say up and put Princess on her lap. "You're the best. It's just because of that idiot, not that I think about him a lot anymore but how couldn't I went stuff like this happens? Hmm had I even told you about him? I don't think so. Ok, listen."

Princess didn't understand what Kyoko was talking about but she was moving and talking again and no longer hurt, which means she did a good job.

**X**

"Pffffff! What exactly are you trying to do?" "Wahhhhh! Ren! Don't you scare me like that." "I'm sorry. Do you want to go to a monster audition and now you learn to pull scary faces?" "Stop laughing..." "You really doing that?" "No!" "Don't pull that face at me. Stop pouring. See I stopped laughing." "Hmpf." "Now for real what were you doing with that pen?" "You will only laugh more..." "Please?" "Puppy-eyes are unfair... It's a training exercise we did today in acting school. It's to train to show emotions only with our eyes and noting else." "Show me. Please." "Urg! Ok, but stop those puppy-eyes only Princess is allowed to do them... You take the pen and put it between your nose and lips and now you say your line." The last part she slurred a bit because she demonstrated it for him. Not all the acting talent in the world was able to keep him from sporting a wide grin that turned into some giggling laugh. "You liar! You said you wouldn't laugh!" "Don't be mad at me. Please." But by then he was only talking to her back. Ok tactic change.

"Here's looking at you kid. Ok that is a lot harder than it looked." She was still avoiding his eyes but a small smile started to play on her lips. "I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuf- refufs- refuse! We are both going to make fools out of ourselves hm?" At that Kyoko could suppress her laughter either. She got her pen back in position. "You want to play a game mister? Bring it on." "Ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky today?' Well do you, punk?" "Go ahead, make my day." They both busted into a fit of laughter.

"The name is Bond. James Bond." "Shaken, not stirred." "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!" "I don't think we are in Kansas anymore."

**X**

"Thank you for being here too Kyoko-san." "Of course Hina-sama. Please take care of us." "Not sama, san is enough. I know Princess already listens to you, but you have to help him to achieve the same goal." "Ok. I will give my best." "You are really cute when you look so determined. Ehm back to business. First off, you need to understand one thing. Right now you are the boss for Princess. That means not only her boss but in her eyes you are the boss of your whole family." Hinas gesture included Kyoko, Princess and Ren. "I'm not his boss!" Kyoko looked shocked at that very idea. "Well Princess thinks you are allowed to boss him around a bit for sure. But that's not the important part. Important is that you are the one who sets the hierarchy in this family. You have to make sure that Princess gets the idea that he is in an higher standing than her. He of course has to act the part but you have to set the ground for him. Ok?" "I think so..." "Today we will set up some conflicts between him and her and you have to be on his side, always." "And if it was his fault and Princess is right? Wouldn't that be unfair?" "Ok, forget that idea. Princess is a dog. She has no concept of fairness. For her there is only her family and the hierarchy. Nothing else matters for her. Your word is her law, ok?"

**X**

"I let you make decisions for yourself once! And this is what happens?" "Please, help me out here Yukihito-kun. When they ask if we could reschedule the photo shot I kind of forgot that Kyoko had asked me to take Princess that whole day because she has a school excursion that day. I know it's your free day, but please, Kyoko it's going to be so angry and disappointed in me if she couldn't go because of me." "You know, I already have plans for that day that didn't include watching over a little puppy." "Like what?" "Like a date!" "A date? Since when do you date?" "Yes, a date. You know, what normal people have when they meet a cute girl and want to get to know her better and not wait for over a year before they make the tiniest move on her and then get it all in the wrong order." "I didn't even know you have a girlfriend..." "I don't have her jet. But I want to change that. That's why I go on a date with her." "So there is no chance that you can take Princess for that day?" "Urg! You own me! Big times, I mean it, I had a reservation at the Kozue, window seats all that." "Thank you thank you thank you! I will get you a new reservation and I'll pay for your dinner too." "Hmpf." "Do I know her?" "No."

**X**

"Ok popcorn is ready. Do you know want movie you want to watch by now, Ren-kun?" "Oh I think it's your turn to choose." "Is it? Make me an offer." "Oh I will make you an offer you can refuse." "Where did you have that from?" "You never saw 'The Godfather'? Like never ever?" "No. Is that bad?" "That's a huge blank gap in your cinematic education! Don't worry we will take care of it right now. Come here. Sit down. I will get the movie."

**X**

"Ouch!" Ren and Kyoko were equally shocked when the dog food hit her head instead off his like it normally does. (To this day, it hurts his ego to say he was only able do avoid one single piece, and even then he was hit with a second one half a moment later. He was sure, being able to have an aim this accurate was a gift given by God or the devil himself.)

"Please tell me the different ways to encourage the training." "Um, there is the positive encouragement by success with treats or positive attention and the negative encouragement by failure or at misbehavement in form of punishment. Positive encouragement always works better and its preferable." Kyoko quoted eagerly trying to please her teacher ocne more and to undo her unknown wrongdoings.

"That's right. So you know it. Why don't you act like it?" "But I try to!" "That tell me sweety, why did I just heard you threaten my student in case of success?" "I didn't! Why would I do that to Princess?" "I wasn't talking about the dog. Didn't you just tell him, he should do his best because once Princess listens to him you can move out again? If my girlfriend would have threaded me like this, I would to this day have the most untrained dogs in the world." "But it's not like-" "You go up to him and tell him you didn't mean that. Promise him you wouldn't move out again. Now!" "Ren-kun." Her half frustrated, half desperate plea was answered with an hopeful look. But Hina-san answered for him. "We are waiting." "But- it's- Hmpf! Ok, I promise I wouldn't move out of you don't want me to." "Deal."

**X**

When he got home it didn't smell like dinner and he didn't hear her in the kitchen neither, but it didn't even two seconds for Princess to be by his side and jump around his feet, which normally was a clear indicator that she needs to go out.

"Hey where is Kyoko, Princess?" He didn't has to search for long. He found her at her desk surrounded by books about-. "Physics?" "Wah, Ren-kun you are home already. Did you finish early?" "No, I'm even half an hour late..." "What but it's only- oh my god it's already 9 o'clock? I didn't even start with dinner." "That's not important right now. What are you working on?" "A project for school. It was a partner project and tomorrow we have to present it and today my partner told me she hasn't done her part and that she would be in school tomorrow and now I'm doing the other half of the project too." "B*tch." "Ren!" "Sorry. How long have you been working on this now?" "Don't know since I got home from school. I just have been out with Princess once. Oh god Princess! Can you go out with her?" "Yes of course. Now get your coat." "What? I thought you take her out?" "I will and we are taking you with us." "But I'm not finished." "Yes but you need to eat dinner too. And didn't you know that you have to take breaks from time to time while studying? Come on up with you." "But-" "No buts. I'm now taking care of my girls. That's not up for discussion."

**X**

"Ahhhhhhhg! I'm not listening to this a second longer!"

A second later Ren and Yashiro had to step back to avoid being hit by the forcefully opened door or the vision in pink that stormed out of Matsushimos office. Sadly it wasn't the vision in pink Ren loves to see but her furious best friend.

"YOU! ARGH!" She pointed her finger accusingly at Ren and then stormed off.

"Kanae-san, please wait!" The acting department head hurried out of his office but didn't cased after her more. "The LoveMe girls are really something else." Yashiro, who had to this point hide behind Ren, looked from the corner where Kanae just disappeared to co-worker. "What was that about?" "Oh, we had a small article about her and a co-star. They were discussing a scene after the shot in a little cafe and someone took a photo. I told her to watch out and to keep her distance to her co-stars outside the set to avoid something like this." "And then she just exploded?" "Well she did that after I told her to be a bit more like Mogami-san when it comes to guys and to take her as an example." "Ah ha."

_Five minutes later in the car_

"You hadn't told Matsushimo about your new living arrangement?" "No. You neither?" "I hadn't thought I have to. Did you tell the president about it?" "No." "Kyoko-chan probably hadn't done it either..." "Probably not." "You will have to tell people about it at some point." "Yes." "But not today?" "Not today."

...

...

"Is she the girl you had a date with?" "Who?" "Kyokos friend, Kotonami-san." "No, I told you, you don't know her." "Well I don't really know Kotonami-san neither." "She is not in the show business." "Really?" "Really." "How to you even met?" "It may surprise you, but I have a life aside from managing you."

**X**

"Hina-san, why did she shows her teeth so much? She often does it when she greets someone but she always waves her tail. She doesn't look angry or aggressive at all and wants to be petted." "You got her when was very young, don't you?" "Yes, why do you ask?" "Thought so much. The first couple of months are very important for the puppy to learn how to interact with humans and other dogs. They learn how to be a dog and how to communicate with others. They learn this by copying their mothers. Princess was in that time with you. So she copied you, when you see each other and you are happy to see each other you show your teeth. And don't worry she still knows how to growl if she needs to." "She is trying to smile?" "Yes." "Oh."

**X**

"Ok what is it? Since you got home tonight you needed to say something. Get it out." It was true. When Kyoko got home that evening something seemed to worry her and a couple of times she was about to say something but stopped herself. Now they were on the evening round with Princess and she was still restless. It already projected on Princess and he started to feel uneasy too.

"It's not so important. You wouldn't like it most likely." "You are now telling me what's going on." "It's just...the okami and the taisho had ask a couple of times if they could see my new home. I tried to explain that it's only temporary." This was a sentence Ren had developed an impressive selective deafness towards. "But they said I lived here for nearly half a year and just want to see how I live... I know it's still your home and I told them that I can't invite people over without asking you. Taisho-sama hadn't been very happy about that answer-" "You don't have to ask me for permission to invite somebody over. It's your home too. I would like it if you tell me that somebody is coming but you don't need my permission, ok?" "So it would be fine to invite them over for dinner next week?" "Of course that's no problem." He was confident that his acting talent let him sound natural and at ease and not like somebody was about to put his family heirlooms in a vice.

**X**

"Congratulation, today she listens very well to you. The last weeks you took your training more serious, right?" "Yes, I'm a bit surprised myself." Hina-san raised an eyebrow at him. "I mean, I'm surprised how easy and problemfree the last training week was." "That's better. You guys did well. Even if Princess still looks to Kyoko from time to time to confirm your orders. Kyoko give him a treat." "I think he still has some in his pocket." She was a bit started to be addressed at all. The last hour she was ordered to stand at the side and to ignore her dog and everyone and had been ignored by everyone.(Apart from Princess from time to time when she wanted to check if Ren really has the authority to give orders. When she hadn't protested Princess thought it be best to listen to him for now.) Should she now give treats to Ren for him to give Princess as some kind to support the training? "Oh I don't mean for Princess. He worked hard. He deserves one too." "What kind of treat?" "Don't ask me. What does he normally gets as a treat from you. Please remember I still stand next to you guys." "I don't normally give him treats... why would you think that?" "You tell me you don't give him any treat when he finally remembers to wash the dishes or the screw the top of the toothpaste back on?" "He does that all on itself." "Just give him a kiss or something." "Wah! Why- why would you say that?" "Go on. We don't have all day." "But we are not- it's not like- He and me don't-" "Hurry up, honeypop." "Honeypop?! But- Ren-kun say something to this!" Ren had wisely decided to keep his mouth shut and that he and Princess went up to Kyoko was of course totally unrelated to the topic of their discussion. "Now do it and we can continue with the next exercise." Kyoko finally yield under Hina-san strict look.

"How is it that we never corrected her when she assumed that we were an couple? When did she even assumed that?" She angrily hissed at Ren. He only shrugged his shoulders and waited for what would happen. "If you would have corrected her this would befall you now." He was informed as she stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Her threatening voice was completely lost on him. Classic example of encouraging unwanted behaviour by a mistimed treat.

**X**

He was an nervous wreck. Kyoko had spent the last one and an half hour in the kitchen and for the last half hour he had tried to set the table perfectly for four persons. Even if Kyoko told him not to worry about it, he felt like dying. "Princess no. Keep away from the table!" He should have asked Yashiro to take Princess for the evening.

The bell rang.

"Ren-kun, can you open the door? I will be there in a second." He was not ready for this. His hand were sweaty and they even shook a bit. "Of cou- ehm of course." His voice at been a pitch to high. No sense in delaying what was about to come. He opened the door wide and greeted the okami and the taisho with a deep bow.

"Good evening. We are very happy that you could join us tonight." "Hn. Where is Kyoko-chan?" Their blow was a lot lest deep. It probably would just barely qualified as an head nod. "She will be here in a moment. Please come in. Can I take your coats?" "Hn" "Thank you. We are happy you invited us." As Ren was about to close the door behind them he saw one of the guards, who had probably showed them to his door. He was smiling encouraging and mumbled, "Good luck.". Ren had the distance feeling he was going to need it.

"Can I offer you anything to drink? Campaign? Sake? Wine? Anything else?" He had stocked up his cabinet the last week, to make sure he would have something they like and to maybe impress the taisho. "Hn. You have a lot of alcohol here."

So far, so bad.

There are no words for how relieved he was when Kyoko come out of the kitchen to greeted them. The dinner was fine. Kyoko talked to them and he partook in the conversation a couple of times. Afterwards they showed them the flat. Ren was mostly ignored by their guests when he wasn't threatened with looks that let Antarctic seem like an ideal summer holiday place in comparison from the taisho. He got the feeling that an uncomfortable talk, where he can only give wrong answers, was waiting in his not so distance future for him. He tried to not look to happy when Kyoko took the taisho with her to the kitchen, the only room he seemed to find slightly impressive.

"Okami-sama can I offer you an other cup of tea?" "Thank you my dear." They sat down together in the living room, while the taisho gave their guest present to Kyoko. (A knife set, which instructions probably include to use it on him should he do anything wrong, or at least that's what Rens paranoia was telling him.)

"Please forgive my husband's rudeness. You see, we were never blessed with children and when Kyoko-chan started working for us, they bonded so fast I think he really considered to adopted her." "It's no problem. He just worries over her." "Yes. When Kyoko-chan moved out, she first told us that it would only for one or two months. And when he found out that this friend she moved in with was actual an young man, he wasn't too happy about the fact that you hadn't introduced yourself first." The hard look in her eyes while she drank her tea suggested that she wasn't very impressed with this behaviour either. "My husband is not one for words. And he is convinced Kyoko-chan is to young to have a boyfriend. He thinks him being here should be warning enough for you and while he maybe is right let me tell you one thing: you are going to make Kyoko-chan happy. That's not a question, because it's going to happen and deserves to be happy more than our Kyoko-chan and you really don't want to fail that." The cold furious way she fixated him froze Ren into his chair and just have her a small nod. (His paranoia showed him a picture where the woman in front of him would have some pleasant smalltalk with a neighbour while dumping his body parts into the dumpster.) "How nice that we understand each other. Now do you still have some of this biscuits? They're fantastic."

**X**

"Kyoko! Thank God you are home. Where have you been?" "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run off." "Never do that again." There was still the unsolved argument from before but right then Ren need to take her into his arms to make sure she was really back. Kyoko couldn't believe it. He had been so angry before and he sure was hurt by what she had said and now he was holding her as if it didn't matter as long as she was here. Tears were forming in her eyes. "I'm sorry I overreacted." "No I'm sorry. You are right it's non of my business who you meet even if it's Fuwa..." There was still some hurt and something else in his voice as he said that. "But it is. Kind of. You are the one who always has to listen when I rank about him. Of course you would be curious why I would meet with him of all people to have lunch with." "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." /I'm not sure I want to hear it./ "I needed to make a cut. I had to have this last conversation with him. To thank him for once being my best friend and only person I could trust. And to tell him why I had been so hurt by his betrayal. And to tell him that I need to cut him out of my life at least for some time, maybe we can be friends again in the future, but I had to tell him that I had to think about myself and who I want to be and that in this life I want I don't have space for him right now." "Kyoko?" "Maybe I should have told you before I go but then I had been sure that I need to do this all on my own, with my own strength." Ren gripped her even closer. "You know you don't have to do everything on your own." "Yes, no everything. You all help me so much, but the last step to set myself free from the past I had to do alone."

**X**

Even if Princess always would listen to Kyoko first when it comes to playing Ren wins out. "Can't you two take that outside?" Ren and Princess were playing fetch in the flat, which means they were jumping over and under the tables, though his bedroom, over the couch and leaving behind a mini chaos. "But it's raining." Ren answered from his position on the floor where he was in all four and playfully had growled at Princess.

"She needs to go on her walk and both of you seemed to have to much energy tonight."

_15 minutes later_

"Wah! Princess down! You are wet." "Yes. Yes we are. From the rain you sent us in." "I will get a towel. Why are you grinning like this?" "I thought the two of us wet and you dry. We don't want you to feel left out." "What? No. No! Stay away from me." "Princess cuddle time." "Let go of me."

**X **

They sat on the couch and watched some movie or more specific some movie was running in the background and they were talking about everything and nothing, how they had done a lot in the last couple of months. One trend that had happened slowly over this months was that they started to sit closer to each other. They were close enough to touch each other and his arm lay on the back of the couch to play with her hair. That evening was unseasonal cold and a fleece cover was wrapped around their legs. As time went by Kyokos head fell on his shoulder. His heart speeded up as he turned his head to snuggle his face into her hair. A shiver ran up her spin when she felt his breath touching the shell of her ear. She didn't pull away. They stayed like this for a few more moments. Both their systems flushed with adrenalin, both trying to figure out what to do next. One of Rens fingers ran up her arm and lightly brushed along her jawline, not pushing just suggesting. She followed his finger and faced him. While he searched for an answer in her eyes to a question she wasn't sure she completely understood, goosebumps ran all over her body. A tiny part of her was afraid of what would come next but mostly she was excited and curious for it. He leaned in and she stretched her head up a bit. Their lips first met in a soft brush against each other. He was cautious and she inexperienced. The second time was braver with slightly more pressure. His hand on her face softly guided her closer to him. The next time they met, they turned their body more to each other what leaded to the awkward moment when you don't know where to put your arms and legs so they wouldn't be in the way but are comfortable at the same time. Finally Ren pulled her on his lap and sealed it with an other kiss. Carefully he nipped on Kyokos bottom lip until she parted them for his tongue to explore. Kyoko didn't know what to do exactly and clumsily tried to follow his lead. One of his hand was on her smaller back pushing her closer, the other played with her short hair. Kyoko wasn't sure what to do with her hands and ghosted her fingertips in patterns over his chest and shoulders.

After some time, non could even guess how long exactly, they slowed down. With a deep and satisfied sigh Ren rested their foreheads against each other. "Hmm?" Kyoko peeked up at him out of still hooded eyes. "You have really no idea how long and desperately I have waited for this to happen." With feather light touches he caressed her face. "You- you waited for this?" "Of course. Or better I dreamed and hoped and prayed for it." He leaned in to claim one more sweet kiss form her. "Beautiful.", he stated with a loving smile. This got Kyoko out of her dashed state. Her face turned scarlet red and she buried it in his shoulder. "Don't say stuff like this." His answer was a deep melodic laugher that rumbled though his chest. "I wouldn't promise that." He rubbed her back in an intimate matter that let shivers ran all over her. "What does it mean?", She whispered quietly against his chest. "Hmm?" "What is going to change now?" She felt stupid to ask. She should probably know the answer already, ever other girl would know the answer, but she had to ask. "As much as you want it to." She listened how his heartbeat speeded up. Was he nervous too? "As I want it to? What is about you?" "For what ever you feel ready to, be sure I'm already waiting there for you." This poetic words didn't really help her out of her confusion. "Does this mean we now are a couple?" The last word was whispered so quietly as if she was afraid he would laugh at her for even thinking about that. "If you want to. I would like that very much. Ok?" He felt her nod against his shoulder. "Is that an ok-we-are-a-couple-now nod?" She nodded one more. "Fantastic." A goofy grin boomed on his face. "Now tell me, what do I have to do to make my girlfriend look me in the eyes?" Softly he lifted her chin form his shoulder. She met his eyes for a short moment then blushed and looked down again. "It's a start." "What is now going to change?" "Quite frankly, not much from the past months and not more than you want it to. But I personal would vote for an increase in cuddling and kissing." She blushed even more and tried to look everywhere but him. Her eyes fell on the tv where the credits were running over the screen.

"Oh no! You said you hadn't seen that movie in forever and wanted to see it again and now you hadn't!" Ren looked completely stunned before he gave her a small kiss on the nose. "And that one of the endless reasons why I love you." "Eh?" "Trust me, I prefer this," he stole a quick kiss, "over every movie in the world."

* * *

><p>Ok, that's it. This end and climax of this story. They kissed, huray. Be happy with it, you wouldn't get anything better for this story. You and I both know you had reed sweeter, more romantic and steamer kiss scenes than this one. But this seemed to be the only one fitting for the relationship they had in my story so far. I tried so make it realistic, but still in character. I write that Kyoko feels at stupid about asking what this means. I don't mean that she is stupid for asking. It's normal to be confused and a bit awkward about everything and its her first time being in this situation. And reality is this you don't kiss and everything is clear. You first have to talk about it. In this chapter I wanted Ren to built up some courage and Kyoko to get more confident about being Rens equal. Some more, yes there are issues they hadn't touched jet in the story, but Ithink those are lest important with the relationship they have here. They know who the other is even if they not know all of it. What else? No YashiroXKanae? Yes, I think her best friend and his best friend of no much of a cliche and just begs for problems in the future. And I really want the okami be the one to give Ren a dressing down for stealing Kyoko away from them and let's face it nothing is scaryer then a mama bear.<p>

Hmm, anything else? Oh yes, I tried to give my OCs a bit of an own real character and not just a one dimensional cliche, not sure if it worked. Thank you to everyone who wrote a comment, it helps a lot. So tell me what do you think and I may have a small side story for you.

And this was my story for my late dog Laika.


	5. Yashiro's extra chapter

Yashiro Yukihito likes dogs. He wants one himself. He really does, even if he seems to be quite harsh when Princess doesn't listen, he would be the first to say thatmost of the time it was Ren's fault and not Princesses. To be honest, it doesn't matter that he loves playing matchmaker for Ren and Kyoko, if he would have been allowed to keep a pet in his flat he would have kept Princess himself. But as it is now, he enjoys taking Princess for walks when Ren didn't have time for it and he maybe spoils her nearly as much as Ren. Luckily for him, Kyoko didn't know about it or he would get some rant from her too. Be as it was Yukihito took her to a nearby park while Ren was charming his co-star into cooperation on the outdoor shot. They would be in this area for three days. It's still in Tokyo so thankfully no nights in a hotel. He let Princess off the leash and she ran in that adorable puppy way that makes hearts melt. She had found a stick and was carrying it around like it was a trophy.

_/And the Oscar for being the most adorable puppy goes to Princess!_/ He grinned to himself. It was a perfectly relaxed day until he heard some furious barking close by. Two big dogs were growling at each other and Princess, as the little coward that she was, ran back to him as fast as she could. But on her way back to him she knocked over the coffee of a young woman who sat in the grass and was eating something while reading a book. She got the coffee on her shirt and she gave a high pitched shriek which frightened Princess even more. He reached down to calm Princess down first who was hiding behind his legs and then went over to the woman to apologize to her.

_/Oh please don't let her be to hysterical. Where is Ren when you need him to charm a girl?/_ Putting on his most diplomatic smile he got into professional mode.

"Good afternoon. I'm Yashiro Yukihito. I'm very sorry for Princesses clumsiness. I will of course pay for the laundry of your clothes." He bowed deep in front of her and offered her some tissues.

"It's fine. I was just surprised. It's an old shirt and nothing the was her can't take care off. I'm Shinto Megumi" She had a deeper voice than he expected, not in a strange unfitting way too deep, but more in a nice husky kind of way. When he first saw what happened from a distance he had thought her to be mid-thirty, but up close she seemed younger, around his age. In his line of work he was used to being around the most beautiful models and actresses, the women every man in this country pines after. She wasn't one of them. She wasn't ugly or anything, just not from the often otherworldly beauty of those stars and starlets. In front of him was a normal young woman with a tanned skin and the vague hint of laughing lines in the making on her face. All in all she looked nice. His short once-over wasn't unnoticed by her and she gave him an open smile.

"You know what? You can make it up by buying me a new cup of coffee. How does that sound?"

"The pleasure would be mine."

Both with a paper cup of coffee they sat on a bench and watched Princess play.

"You have a really sweet dog. I wish I could have one myself." His logic mind told him, that now was the right moment to tell her that Princess wasn't actually his dog. "I know that feeling. I wanted a dog my whole life. I begged my parents all the time when I was a kid." "Do you come here often? Because if you do maybe we can meet again." "I'm here for work right now, but the next two days I will be in this area." "Around the same time as today?" "Yes I think so." "Nice. I have to go now, but see you tomorrow, Yukihito-kun." "I'm looking forward to it, Megumi-san." They both took off in opposite directions. Yukihito had a little extra swing in his step when he stopped half way to the studio.

"Shoot! I should have asked for her number."

**X**

"Hey, I hope you haven't been waiting long Yukihito-kun." "Not at all." He had been there ten minutes early and spent the last half hour being close to the bench they had said goodbye on yesterday. "I was running a bit late and then I hadn't found my keys and when I was finally out of my door my landlord talked me up because next week we will get a new water pump and we wouldn't have water for a couple of hours and then I had to take a much longer way here because my route was blocked for some commercial shot or something." She was out of breath when she finally finished her explanation. "Don't worry it's really fine. I'm- I mean we are just happy you made it. It's just, in fifteen minutes we have to go back to work." "Then we have fifteen minutes to play with Princess." Her good-natured grin was infectious and Yukihito answered her with one of his own.

"So what are you doing here in the park?" He was a bit out of practice, when it comes to small talk like this.

"I was reading job offers." They played with Princess in the park.

"How could a nice and intelligent young woman not have one already?"

"I just came back to Japan after being a volunteer for two years."

"Really? Where have you been?"

"I worked in the Dominican Republic and Haiti."

"Wow that's far away. How was it?"

"Fantastic and very different from here."

"You have to tell me more about it."

"I will. How about tomorrow? Same time?"

"Sure."

**X**

"Thank you so much and I'm sorry. It's not your job to take care of my dog, Yukihito-kun. Maybe I can take her for a walk later."

"It's no problem at all Ren-kun. You make sure to finish here early so we can head home a bit earlier today and I will take Princess for another walk in the park. We get along really well together, right Princess?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes don't worry. We have a lot of fun in the park."

"Thanks a lot."

"Not for that."

**X**

"Today you're late." "I'm sorry." "Let me guess: the shooting set." "Kind of." "Hm?" "I work there." "Really as what? I thought you were a banker or manager. Always in a suit." "I am a manager, a talent manager." "Wow that's cool. Anyone I know?"

Yashiros memory lane

"Really? Can you introduce me?" "The Tsuruga Ren? So cool!" "Wow. Is he single?" "Can I meet him?" "Oh my god! I love that man!" "Now that's a man I want to meet." "Is he as good looking in real life as on tv?" "Now can you manage to put me on his booty call list?" "Can you give me his number?" "What's his type of girl?"

And all women had this identically look as if he got completely invisible in their eyes'

"A young actress by the name Kyoko."

"Just Kyoko? Can't say this rings any bell. Anything I could have seen her in?"

"Have you seen Dark Moon? Was a big hit not long ago."

"I was abroad and it didn't run on Netflix. There is no way I would have seen it on any illegal internet side, of course. But let's assume I know enough to recognize the story and the characters in it." She wasn't the best liar in front of the Lord and she received a smile from him.

"She played Mio."

"Wow. She was scary as hell! When she threatened Mizuki with that knife that was creepy."

"For somebody who hadn't been able to see the show you know a lot details."

"That's what my friends back home told me, of course." She blinked in an overdramatic way to appear innocent. "Of course." They teased each other and played with Princess until Yukihito had to go back.

"That's was fun. We should do that again."

"Definitely. But you wouldn't be in the area from tomorrow on right?"

"No..." /Ok. That's it Yukihito, I know you can do that. Just ask for her number it's not so difficult./ His hands were sweaty, his heart was racing and he felt like hyperventilating. "Um..."

"Here. My number. Call me when you are in the area or if you want to do something, Yukihito-kun."

"Thank you."

**X**

"Are you ok? Did anything happen?"

"Everything is fine. Why do you ask, Ren?"

"Don't know. You seem very...cheerful."

"No everything is perfect."

"Ah ha. Does it have anything to do with Kyoko?"

"Why would I be happy because of Kyoko? Isn't that your front?"

"I just thought..."

"Ok. Now stop watching me out of the corner of your eyes and pay attention to the road."

**X**

Ren noticed that Yukihito had been taking better care of his mobile and spending more time on it lately. That was definitely new. Normally he didn't really get along with his mobile or any electronic device on a more complex level than a light switch. Electronics and him keep a very cold relationship with each other born out of an uncomfortable but unavoidable necessity that was his job, like having to go to the toilet after eating really hot chili. Yes, Ren decided, his manager acted strange.

**X**

He felt bad. He likes Kyoko a lot. She was sweet, charming and very very kind. It would be a cliché to claim her as a little sister, one Yukihito would avoid, mainly because he has a little sister (and a big one too) and knows with a real little sister a lot more screaming, fighting, biting, splitting and kicking is involved. But he likes her as the adorable crush of your annoying little brother and as a friend. And that's why he felt bad for lying to her. It took nearly two weeks of texting for a chance to meet with Megumi again. Ren had a photo shoot with a director who didn't want managers on set, meaning he had a free evening. But for a 'let's meet for a evening walk' he was lacking a dog. So he panicked and lied to Kyoko. He told his sister was visiting him with her kids and that they want to meet Princess. She believed his story and now he and 'his' dog were waiting for his date.

**X**

There were things he could tolerate. Having to work longer to make sure Ren goes to the puppy training was one. Spending his time on the trainings field, because they had a shoot shortly after was fine too. Even having to participate in the training was perfectly ok. Letting an old woman throw stuff at him wasn't so great but he could live with it. Being treated like a little schoolboy, because the trainer didn't see much different between 7 and 27, was not a thing he enjoyed. But some things just make him uncomfortable.

"You have to repeat this exercise all the time, and no lazy excuses. Training every day. And be it in the evening when you sit on the couch together. Training, training, training."

He and Ren shared an awkward glance with each other.

"Um, excuse me, ahm but I think you may mistake ehm..." "The nature of our... well I don't want to say relationship, with each other..."

**X**

"So yesterday you had to explain to your dog trainer that you are not gay? Really? Because you went there with your best friend?"

"Yes I kind of used you as an excuse when she was unwilling to belief us. We were like, we totally both have girlfriends. I'm not sure she believed us." He blushed as he watched her laugh so much that she started to grunt.

"That's completely fine with me, but that means that from now on I'm taking you as an excuse if a guy at a party gets to friendly. Come on, let's make a photo for proof!" Because of his heavy dissonance with all electronic devices, Yukihito only uses them when strictly necessary. This was the reason why it took him 27 years to take his first selfie. It showed him smiling shyly and Megumi leading her head on his shoulder with a wide grin. It didn't take nearly as long to his second one. It was taken three seconds later and showed his bright red face as she kissed his cheek.

**X**

It was sometimes very easy to talk with Megumi. She was funny and told stories quite lively with big gestures. Other times it was embarrassingly difficult, because he grudgingly had to admit that his big sister maybe was right when she said that he made his job to much his life and spared topics like politics, economy and science no more mind that what he read in big letters on the first page in the newspapers and that only to have some topics for small talk at parties. Well and Megumi was a very literate and well-educated young woman who had her PhD in medicine and spent the last two years as an volunteer in Central America. His sister would probably cry tears of joy if she saw him read up on all this stuff now just to not appear stupid or ignorant to Megumi.

**X**

He still found it unbelievable amusing to watch Ren in his attends to woe Kyoko. It was ridiculous how little process that guy was making sometimes (even if he unwillingly had to admit that he made more process since Princess stepped into their lives). It was as if Ren forget everything he knows about woman as soon as Kyoko was involved. Yukihito loves teasing Ren about it and he really wished those two all the love (and patience) in the world, because he truly believes those two to be perfect for each other. This was his honest opinion, but he noticed that he wasn't so emotional involved in their relationship as he at been just a couple of months ago. Maybe it was because since they moved in together he wasn't always around when they make their baby steps or that he wasn't the actual catalyst for their development as a couple (even if it was his genius work that they moved together to begin with). But when he was honest with himself, it was most likely that their relationship had been a substitute for his own lacking love life. It wasn't that he never had any girlfriends, but his last real relationship ended two months before he started working for and with Ren and he probably dictated himself to work a bit more then necessary or healthy because of that. It wasn't a bad break up, they just decided after a year and a half that they had different plans for the future and went separate ways.

**X**

She talks about her job interviews and what it feels like to be home again. She rants about the fact that some bosses didn't seem to accept her years as volunteer as work experience. "It's stupid. I was a doctor there. What does it matter if it was not in an industrial country?" When he talks about work he talks about Kyoko, because he still hadn't told her that he is Ren's manager. "When she first played Mio she had problems with the character and it was so funny how she moved as she tried to figure it out." As he demonstrated her gestures he missed the dark look that crossed Megumis face.

**X**

"Yashiro-san, I will not give you Princess if you won't tell me what is going on. Why do you want to borrow her so often to go on walks with her?" Kyoko crossed her arms and waited for his answer with a challenging look in her eyes. He thought about giving her some kind of excuse but thought better of it. No more little white lies.

"It's about a girl. I met her when I took Princess on a walk for Ren-kun and she loves her and we started to talk and now she thinks Princess it's my dog and yeah..."

"You lied to her?"

"It's more that she assumed and I never corrected her?"

"Had you told her anymore lies?"

_/She is really scary when she's angry./_ "I kind of told her I'm your manager not Ren-kuns..."

"Why would you tell her something like this?!" Princess ducked down as Kyoko screamed at him. When Kyoko saw that she lowered her voice but shot Yukihito an even angrier look.

"It's just...whenever I just mention his name I only become a way to meet him... It's as if I disappear for them as a person" Her evil glare died down and made room for a sympathetic and determined look.

"Really?! That's unfair! Did you ever tell Ren-kun about it?"

"No. It's a bit embarrassing and I don't want him to poke fun at me for it."

"He would never poke fu-" She stopped herself and remembered something. "Maybe he would..."

"Yes!" /And he would call it payback!/ "So are you helping me?"

"Yes... But you have to promise me to tell her the truth."

"Thank you, thank you!" He picked her up and spun her around.

"But I want her back home at 9 o'clock, mister."

**X**

His truth telling has only been half successful or more like quarter successful. He only told half the truth and that had been half successful at best.

"Princess isn't really your dog? Why didn't you say otherwise? And who does she belong to?"

"No, when we first met I was responsible for her and there was this cute girl I wanted to impress and if I have the space she would have been my dog and yeah..."

"Is that so?" A small smile fled over her face, "So who does she belong to?

"My charge."

"Kyoko-san? Princess is Kyoko-sans dog?" His past dates pop up in his mind. "Yes." /Not a lie./

Ah..."

That had been four days ago and since then she hadn't answered his messages. So now he was lying on his bed and felt miserable.

His mobile was vibrating next to him. Hastily he put on his glove and read the message. It was from Megumi. It was an address. Half a minute later he got a second text.

'Karaoke with some friends be there in 30min'

A smile bloomed on his face.

**X**

He learned more about her. Megumi can play the clarinet but stopped playing as soon as she moved out from home and her mum couldn't force her anymore. She likes modern art but thought classic art to be boring ("They were good craftsmen to show exactly what they see but there is no wondering in it."). She informs herself about actual politic online but switches the channel when it is on tv. She starts crying at the cheesiest movies and starts to rage about inaccurate hospital dramas. She loves dogs but can't stand cats since the cat of her childhood neighbor scratched her when she was a little kid.

When she learned about his technical incompetence she first laughed and then forbade him to go anywhere near her electronics and claimed the standing right on the tv remote. The one time they watched a splatter movie she laughed until she noticed how uncomfortable he was with these kind of movies. Her well-meant explanation about how unrealistic all this is shown and how it would look for real only made him feel sicker.

**X**

"Please, please, please! Kyoko-chan, I beg you help me out."

"I told you to tell her the truth."

"Yes, and I did but only half of it and she was so angry about that that I couldn't tell her the rest... And now she wants to meet you. Please."

"And because she was angry you should tell her!"

"I will, after I go on a real date with her."

"Yashiro-san!"

"Please."

"Arrg, ok, but I really think it's not the best idea."

**X**

The meeting was kind of uncomfortable for Kyoko. Yashiro-kun didn't seem to notice. Megumi-san was nice and smiling but sometimes she felt like Megumi-san was mustering her and found her lacking. She couldn't explain the feeling. Princess ran back and forth between everyone but stayed closest to Kyoko.

"So you two get along very well when you work together?"

"Yes, I couldn't ask for a better charge. She is easy to work with, learns her lines on time and is always polite."

"Ah."

"What of Tsuruga-san? Wouldn't that be at least as good as working with me?"

"Haha. That workaholic? I wouldn't have any free time at all, at least until he finds himself a girlfriend or hobby for which he dements some time off himself."

When Megumi shortly went to the bathroom, Kyoko and Yukihito started to talk in hushed voices.

"I don't think she likes me very much."

"Oh rubbish. Everybody likes you, Kyoko-chan."

"Not true and she doesn't."

"I'm sure she is just nervous." Kyoko looked doubtful but let the topic rest because 1) Yukihito seemed to be nervous enough for a mental break down and 2) Megumi was on her way back to the table. She sat back down with the slightly fake smile in place.

"I don't have much time left today. But you know I would love to talk some more with you Kyoko-san. We should meet next week, just the two of us. What do you say?" Kyoko didn't even have to look to feel Yukihitos hopeful happy aura and to refuse would be like kicking a puppy. "Sure. Here is my number."

**X**

A part of Kyoko wasn't sure if meeting Megumi alone was a good idea. She still had the feeling that Megumi couldn't stand her, but she hadn't been unfriendly and Kyoko wants to belief that all people can be good and nice and that she only had a bad day when they met.

So one week later Princess was confused. She knows Megumi for some time now and going on a walk with her had always been fun and spending time with Kyoko-boss was always great. So why did the atmosphere seem strained when being on a walk with both? People are strange...

"You are quite young and Yuki-kun told me that you are astonishing successful in the business in consideration for how short you are in it. How old exactly were you?"

"Seventeen"

"Ah. A naive young girl in such a harsh business. That can't be easy. Yuki-kun must be a big help for you."

"Ehm about that-"

"You spend a lot of time with each other. Sometimes it's easy to get confused about some things."

"What -?"

"But from one woman to another. Never try to date a older guy. It gets messy really quick."

"Date-?"

"They see this little sweet girl. This naive, stupid thing, with who they can do whatever they want. They want somebody to admire them, someone to look up to them, but you mature, you get older, wiser, you learn about yourself and what you want. Sometimes they don't want that. They will try to stop this progress you make."

"That could happen because of four years?"

"Four years? Who are you talking about?"

"Who are you talking about? You want to go out with Yukihito-san, but it sounds to me like you are still bitter about some other guy!"

...

...

...

"How about this, we sit down somewhere and I tell you about that other guy and you tell me about four year's guy. And then we will see if we can't come up with some solutions between two reasonable women."

"Ok, fine."

"Ok who is going to start? The one that asked right? Ok. So... this is strange. Um, it's about my ex. Where to start?...We started dating when I was 16, he 27. It was cool to have an older boyfriend and all this. It was great at the beginning, but we started to have fights. When I finished high school and went to university we fought a lot. He didn't like it when I dressed less childish. He didn't like that I studied medicine, he was always complaining that it's too difficult, that I didn't have enough time for him. I would have stopped my studies at that point if my cousin wouldn't have slapped some sense back into me. It went on until I was nearly 24 years and he left me for a 17 year old girl. He told me that I just no longer was the girl he fell in love with. It hurt like hell. I somehow finished my doctor degree and my cousin helped me get back on my feet. It was she who got me the place in the volunteer program, to find myself and all this. It took me some time there and some crazy overcompensation, but I got better there. I became a woman I like a lot more then the little girl I was before and yeah...God I just embarrassed myself."

"No, no you don't. I can understand that. Sometimes you just have to tell it all."

"And you must think that Yuki-kun is just a rebound for me. He isn't! I really like him and I really want this to work out with him. And I know I'm acting stupid, but there is this little paranoid voice in my head, that tells me, it will happen all over again."

"Yeah, it's difficult to trust again after a heartbreak. I know that all to well."

"You are 17. What do you know about heartbreak?"

"Just because I'm young doesn't mean I don't understand!" With that Kyoko told Megumi everything about Sho, from beginning to end. Part because she didn't want to be belittled for her youth, part because she knew this woman would understand that there will always be a part that can't be fixed again.

"Wow. I take it back. You know something about it."

"Told you so."

"I don't want to sound like I didn't take it serious. I do, I mean he is a huge jerk, but is there a chance that you expected to much from him. Let me explain before you get angry. During my studies I had to take some psychology classes and there is something a thing, projection or something. From what I understood you don't have a good relationship with your mum and to protect yourself from hurt you projected, no no transferred. That's the word for it; transferring. Projection is feelings for yourself on somebody else. Yeah, it could be transferring. So you transfer the feelings for your mum on somebody else. This case, this Sho guy. So the hurt you felt when he turned completely asshole wasn't all for him, because the love you felt before wasn't all for him either, but it was easier to focus it all on him than dealing with all the psychological bullshit your mum gifted you with."

"I have never thought about anything like this... Sho never was as important as I made him be, even for myself?" A laugher bubbled up her throat, it was borderline hysterical. "That's ridiculous!"

"That's psychology for you. Or if you are more of the Freud guy, your problem is that you want to have sex with him, and your mum, and probably your dad. All at once. And that you feel incomplete because you don't have a penis!", Megumi added with a wink.

"What? How? Who would think that?"

"The founder of modern psychology."

"Really? I never felt incomplete because I don't have a -you know...", Kyoko stuttered with a huge blush blooming on der face.

"And I think that's the normal and healthy thing if you are not a transgender."

"That's crazy." The both giggled about it, before Megumi sheered the conservation back to the real problem, men. "Yes. So but he is not the four years guy, who is that?"

"No... He is a college and a friend."

"And you like him. A lot, yes?" Kyoko nod as she blushed. "But you say, going out with an older guy isn't good for me? Not that he would want to go out with me or anything. Why would he?"

"You just have to make sure you don't lose sight of who you want to be and start becoming who he wants you to be. But it sounds as you already learned that lesson."

"Yes."

"But never think you are not good enough for any guy, you are a great girl. Any guy would be happy to have you. But don't you dare to go after Yuki-kun."

**X**

Managers not only run behind their charge all day and have a bottle of water at call. No, real managers not only take care of the schedule of their star, but are responsible for the financial aspect of the work, they are the ones that have to read the contracts, and all the boring paper stuff. This takes time, a lot of time. When Yukihito excuse himself to leave Ren and Kyoko along he normally does exactly that. Boring paper stuff. Today was a whole day dedicated to just that. He has even a name for those days: paper day. A name so boring that it fits perfectly. He hasn't finished as much work as he had hoped so far. When he is honest with himself, it maybe had something to do with the fact that the last one and half hour he spent mostly texting Megumi.

**X**

"Hey Megumi-san. Nice that you call."

"Yeah, I saw that you tried to call me. Was it about anything specific?"

"Oh that...ehm...well I wanted to know if you are free next Thursday."

"I have nothing planned yet."

"Ok. Great! Ehm do you want to go on a date? With me?"

"A real date? I woul-"

"Megumi-san? Hello? What? No no no! Stupid phone!"

**X**

One hour later Yashiro Yukihito was the proud owner of a far too expensive one-way prepaid mobile that he held in his gloved hands. He hurried home and got his notebook. As the electrical challenged person he was, he kept his notebook with close to religious effort. All his life could be found between these pages and probably half of Ren's as well. He couldn't say how many nights he had spent copying all his numbers and dates into his newest phone. Even the IT technicians have been completely bewildered on how he managed to delete even all his cloud data's, without actually having the administration rights for that on the phone. Carefully he dialed her number. It rung for some time and then was denied. Yashiro did the thing every reasonable adult would do in his situation.

He panicked.

-Please Megumi I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to end the call! My phone died! Please don't be mad at me!-

Half a minute later he nearly dropped his phone when it started to ring.

"Yes? Hello? Megumi?"

"Yuki? Is that you?"

"Yes, of course. Thanks you for calling back, I'm really sorry and-" Yashiro said it in a rushedand paniced way.

"It's ok. I was just wondering what strange number was calling me so late at night."

"Strange number? Oh of course! I had to get a new phone and card! Oh good. I thought you were mad at me and I didn't know what to do when you denied my call and well yeah..."

"Yuki I would love to go on a date with you? When and where are we going to meet?" His heart felt light as he heard her answer.

"In one week, so next Thursday, I can pick you up at 6:30p.m.?"

"Sounds great."

**X**

"I let you make decisions for yourself once! And this is what happens?"

"Please, help me out here Yukihito-kun. When they asked if we could reschedule the photo shoot I kind of forgot that Kyoko had asked me to take Princess that whole day because she has a school excursion that day. I know it's your free day, but please, Kyoko is going to be so angry and disappointed in me if she couldn't go because of me."

"You know, I already have plans for that day that didn't include watching over a little puppy."

"Like what?"

"Like a date!"

"A date? Since when do you date?"

"Yes, a date. You know, what normal people have when they meet a cute girl and want to get to know her better and not wait for over a year before they make the tiniest move on her and then get it all in the wrong order."

"I didn't even know you had a girlfriend..."

"I don't have one yet. But I want to change that. That's why I'm going on a date with her."

"So there is no chance that you can take Princess for that day?"

"Urg! You own me! Big times, I mean it, I had a reservation at the Kozue, window seats all that."

"Thank you thank you thank you! I will get you a new reservation and I'll pay for your dinner too."

"Hmpf."

"Do I know her?"

"No."

**X**

-so you're still working?-

-yes till late in the night the shoot takes longer tonight-

-shame but are you even allowed to text at work?-

-I'm on my lunch break-

-at 4:30?-

-I'm happy that I have one at all-

-poor dear-

-how was your job interview?-

-great ^^ they will call me tomorrow but if everything works out I could start next week-

-that's fantastic congratulations-

-thank you-

-i have to go back to work see you soon-

-see you soon-

With a smile Megumi put away her phone and went on her way home. She felt bubbling happy. Everything starts to feel right in her life. The interview was great, even better than she told Yukihito. They told her to come back tomorrow to talk about a contract. Once she has this job, she can finally get her own flat and doesn't have to stay at her cousin's place. Well and then there is Yukihito. It felt different than her last relationship. It wasn't so all consuming, it was more quiet, but truer, kind of. But at the same time it made her feel like a teenager. She really thinks that this could be something special. He was sweet and kind and really good looking. She felt lighter then ever as she walked home. She was in the middle of the park when she stopped dead.

"Megumi-san? What are you doing here?"

"I'm on my way home. What are you doing here, Kyoko-chan?"

"Oh, I'm taking Princess for a walk."

"Really? Do you work close by?"

"No, I have the afternoon off."

"Oh...ehm... excuse me... I..."

"Everything ok?"

Yeah sure... I will... go home."

"Wait Megumi-san. Please what is the problem?"

"Nothing."

She turned around and left the confused actress behind. But after 50 meters she turned around again and went back to Kyoko."No, God damnit. I will deal with it like a grown up!"

"What?"

"What kind of game are you playing?"

"What? Games? I don't understand." Kyoko answred intimitated.

"You are here and have a day off and Yukihito says he is at a shooting all day! What's all that about?"

"Oh."

"Yes, OH!"

"I don't know if I should explain this to you." "Yeah, you shouldn't but you are here now! You know what, you are right. This isn't your problem. Good bye."

"Megumi-san? Please wait."

"Kyoko-chan..."

"Just let me get Princess and we'll go and drink a coffee."

"I don't know..."

"Please." Megumi nodded.

Both had a coffee in front of them that they weren't drinking.

"So you tell me, he lied but not really?" Megumi asked sceptically.

"Yes kind of." Kyoko ansered timid.

"So what was all this about? Was he trying to upgrade his job to be more impressive and what's with him walking your dog?"

"Princess isn't just my dog. I share her with his real charge. I'm not really an upgrade for him, more a downgrade, trust me. I'm not big enough to have a personal manager and Yashiro-san is one of the best in Japan."

"He still lied to me."

"Yes, he said he wants to tell you once you are really together. I told him to tell you sooner, but I think he had some bad experience with women trying to take advance of him to meet R- his charge."

"Hmpf. And what do you have to do with this? Why do you have a dog with his guy and how do you meet Yukihito-kun to have such a bubbling friendship with him?"

"Um...well"

"Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Is that four-years-guy?" Kyoko blushed a dark shade of red and nodded a little bit. "Then why are you so worried about having to chances with that guy? You have a dog together, that's on the commitment level one step below building a house together or having kids!"

"No, no, no. It's not like this." Kyoko fanaticly shook her head. "Aha."

"Well now, do you forgive Yashiro-san?"

"He still lied and didn't trust me."

"Yeah, but he didn't lie about himself really, just who he manages. About who he is, he was honest with you. Did you never lie even a little bit when you were with him?" After a long and hard stare, Megumi broke down. "Arrg! This guy is Yuki's push-up-bra!"

"Ehm, what?"

"Whenever we met I made sure to wear a push up. It's not really lying, but not completely honest either. So yeah, this is his push-up-bra." For the next couple of seconds they were silent until Kyoko started to giggle. "What?", Megumi asked irritated.

"Pffffff! I just was imaging it. Him really acting as Yashiro-san's push up." It didn't take long for both of them to laugh loud and carefree together about it.

It took Kyoko nearly two weeks to stop grinning whenever she saw the men together.

**X**

"Wow. You look great."

"Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself. I don't think I've never seen you in anything else but your suits before."Yashiro for once wore a dark jeans and a nice dress shirt. His hair was styled back.

"So am I wearing the right clothes or do I have to change?" She turned around for him once to take a look."No you look perfect." Her top showed a bit of cleavage, with a fine necklace. It had a light blue and purple floral print.

"So where are we going?"

"Let me surprise you."

"So you have it all planned just you and me?"

"And Princess..."

"Princess?"

"Yes for a couple of hours."

"Ok, and then?"

"Kyoko-chan picks her up, as soon as she is back from her school trip."

"So where are we going to eat with a dog?"

"Come with me and be amazed."

"Ok."

Yukihito leaded her to a waiting silver limousine, as he opened the backseat door for her Princess happily greeted her.

"Hey baby girl how are you?" It took her only a moment to roll on her back to get her tummy scratched. In the time Yukihito walked around the car she took a better look at the car.

"Oh hello. Who are you?"

"Good evening miss. I'm going to be you driver tonight."

"Ok." She fixated Yukihito with a confused look when he sat down next to her. "I will explain this later."

After a short drive they arrived in the park.

"In the park?"

"Yes. Can you take Princess? I have to get something from the trunk."

"No problem. Now tell me Princess what are we going to do? What he didn't tell you either?"

A moment later Yukihito reappeared next to them with a big backpack and a basket.

"Can we?"

"Picnic?"

"Is that a problem?"

"No, not what I was expecting, but good."

"Then let's go."

Once they were close, but not too close to a small lake, they settle down for the evening.

"So what do you have inside that?"

"First off the picnic blanket, so we don't get cold. This side nice and soft, the other side with termo protection." She giggled at his proud expression. "Furthermore we have some pillows, some more blankets should we get cold, some LED lights- candles and fire are forbidden around here, wipes- for the hands, a few dog toys- to keep Princess entertained, hmm bug repellent, oh and food and plates are kept warm with some of these had warming pads."

"You really have everything planned do you?"

"I'm pretty sure that's my job description."

Yashiro had made a couple of small dishes and brought a sweet rosé wine. He wasn't a bad cook so the food was good (but don't tell Kyoko that until those two are at least married). They spend over two hours talking, eating, laughing and playing with Princess in the park, when started to put the food away, not the wine but the food.

"Kyoko-chan just wrote that she will be here in half an hour or so to pick up Princess."

"So where did you get that car and driver from?"

"You know, LME is one of the biggest talent agencies and that means they always have some cars available to get to a meeting or a premiere. So you can just ask for them."

"So you lied to get the car?"

"No! I said I need it for a date and I got it."

"I don't believe you.", she replied mockingly.

"Hey! You need to know that our boss is known as a Lovemon."

"A what?"

"A Lovemon. Love monster. He openly declared himself in love with love and brings a bit more love into the world each day. Don't look like a list my mind! We have extra love vacation days. You can take them on the love holidays, like Valentine's day, white day or Christmas or on your spouse or families birthday or anniversary. You just have a give a short summary of five sentences for the president what kind of loving gesture you did for your loved one."

"For real?"

"Yes." The young doctor started to giggle and after a short moment both where laughing loud.

"So what are you going to write in your summery?"

"That I took a beautiful young woman to a late night picnic in the park. Where we watched the stars and I made sure that she had a lovely night filed with laughter."

"That are not five sentences."

"Then it is good that the evening isn't over yet and we still have some time left."

Our favorite manager blushed a bit over his own words but decided to be brave and put the arm around her. The next thing he knew was that she turned around in his arm towards him and kissed him. One of her hands was in his hair the other rested on his shoulder. He was only in shock for a short moment then he returned the kiss with as much passion. The arm around her shoulder pulled her closer to him, while his other hand, with Princess leach around the wrist, found the way to her waist. They couldn't tell if they caressed each other like this for seconds, minutes or hours, when Princess started to happily bark and pull his arm away from her. They looked in the direction to where Princess was pulling and saw a beet red Kyoko around fifty meters from them. Megumi gave her a small salute as Yashiro freed his wrist from the leash and let the puppy run to the actress. The clearly embarrassed girl shortly waved good bye and nearly fleet the scene.

Megumi laid her head against his shoulder and giggled. "The poor girl won't be able to look one of us in the eyes for at least two weeks." "Hmm. Maybe then she will finally stop laughing at me. I still have no idea why she does that."

* * *

><p><strong>A.N.<strong>

This was a test for myself if a can create a good own character. So here is Megumi. Please tell me what you think about her.

I wanted to give Yashiro his own love story, separated from Ren and Kyoko. As both character are a bit older I hope I managed to give them a more grown up way of getting together.

What else? I think the 'always be the guy next to Ren' could really be a problem for Yashiro when he tries to find a girlfriend. And I totally stand with the love vacation days. Those belong to my head cannon about Lory. Please leave a review. And a big thank you to all readers and reviews.

Thank you XxLovelyStoryxX for being my trusted beta. Please feel very hugged by me^^


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